Fusion
by Shidract
Summary: A predominantly OC based fanfiction, based four years or so after the second movie with members NEST. First the Allspark. Then Energon. Now Fusion. A rough, missmatched group of Autobots. Their human allies. And an unlikely path ahead of them.
1. Gender Issues

For the record, I don't own Transformers, but all these guys mentioned throughout, apart from the usual Transformers are the works of my wild imagination, so please don't steal them. They make a mess of the house and generally aren't the best pets to keep, so I don't know why you'd want them in the first place. My writing isn't exactly the best, so if there are mistakes, I apologise. And my knowledge of writing with Transformers is very limited too, so they may seem rather off for Autobots and Decepticons.

Without further ado, I hand you over you to the wonderful world of Fusion…

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"That is just so unfair," Alex muttered for the umpteenth time that night as he stared out his window, down at the darkened front yard from where he was perched on the small window seat of his slightly bayed window. The yard was empty apart from the source of Alex's jealously; a vague shape of a streamline car, parked with its wheels at a jaunty angle that only seemed to rub him up the wrong way even more.

"So unfair," he sighed again as he let his eyes roam over the cars smooth surfaces.

His brother always had the best of everything. A fancy house, a solid and rather well paid job, a blonde bimbo model of a girlfriend, who Alex had managed to get slapped in the face by for apparently making sexual advances towards her. The list could go on forever. And now he had a car that Alex had been lusting, and obsessing, over ever since he'd heard the name 'Aston Martin'.

So here he was now, eyeing up his brothers Aston Martin DBS parked in his father's driveway at some ridiculous hour of the morning, while his brother and father were fast asleep.

Alex wanted to do something daring and drastic, both because he was bored, but also to get back at his brother for being, well, so perfect. He had a few ideas up his sleeve, but couldn't decide on them. He could key the DBS or trash he completely. But he could probably never bring himself to mark the beautiful, sleek and shining silver paint that flowed over the cars sensual curves.

Oh, how he loved that car.

He could successfully hotwire cars, however. He could take the car for a little ride. Yeah. He liked that idea. Maybe he could ditch the car once he'd finished with it. Just behind a hedge or something similar. Not in a ditch. Oh no, mud was not touching that car's body, let alone wheel arches. Not even the wheels at that.

Alex smirked to himself as he slid off his window seat, liking his idea. Not only would he be having fun and driving his brother around the bend, but he'd also get his hands on that hot damn sexy car. He padded across his bedroom as quietly as he could, straightening out his rumpled clothes that he hadn't bothered to change out of. Both the jeans and white shirt looked like he'd lived in them for a week, which was probably actually quite true, however no one would be seeing him as he stole out to the car and drove off. He grabbed a pair of skate shoes that once upon a time may have been white, however it wasn't quite clear anymore due to the dirt all over them, before slipping his feet in them quickly, bending briefly to tuck the laces in at the sides. Half hopping, still sorting out his shoes, he made his way over to his desk where he grabbed his cell phone and wallet, just in case he really found himself in any trouble. Somehow he doubted it, but still, it was better to play it safe when stealing a family members two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollar car. Alex then cautiously edged out of his room, shutting the door silently behind him.

Ever so slowly he began to tiptoe lightly across the landing, cringing each time an aged floorboard creaked under foot. He could hear his father's gentle breathing from the room across the way, and his brothers irritating snoring from the spare room to his right. They were both deep sleepers, like Alex himself, but sometimes he couldn't quite be sure if his father was asleep, since he'd been caught sneaking out the house too many times to count recently. On reaching the stairs, he did his best to navigate his way down them, trying to avoid the steps that he knew made the most noise, meaning he often had to try and leap down two or three at a time and land lightly enough not to alert anyone to his presence.

Eventually he reached the bottom of the stairs, his best ninja moves having got him down without too much creaking, and he hurried to the front door, praying he wouldn't fall over his pet cat who often lounged in the middle of the hall, tripping up anyone who was trying to make a sneaky get away, often clawing them to shreds if they had the misfortune to tread on his tail. However, his path was clear, and he soon opened the front door, stepping out in to the humid and sticky Texan night air.

He took a deep breath as he shut the door behind him slowly, then began to shuffle quietly over the hardcore drive towards the car. Part of the way there, he paused and glanced over his shoulder at his father's old wooden farmhouse, before looking back at where he was going, ducking past the old 'family' (Alex wasn't allowed to even sit in the driver's seat) pick-up truck, that looked ripe to fall apart over the next bump it went over. It didn't help that it happened to be located on farm land, and therefore was required to go over quite a few bumps a day. Alex was just waiting for the day when they'd finally replace the peace of junk with something flashier, yet still functional. A GMC Yukon perhaps. He'd suggested many cars to his father, but he refused to spend bucks on vehicles unless he had no other option.

Once at the DBS, he crouched down beside the drivers door and slipped a bobby pin from his jean pocket and folded it back a few times before sliding it carefully into the lock. Then with surprising dexterity, he began to work the lock, praying silently that the perfect car's alarm system wasn't all that perfect.

Alex was a dab hand at certain… Unsavoury tasks. Stealing a car for example. He could pick locks and hotwire. But he often acted like a petty thief too, stealing the odd thing here and there from shops, and sometimes, if he was feeling daring, houses too. He wasn't really proud of what he did, and was, by any means; however, it amused him and gave him something to do when his father wasn't using him as free farm labour. He couldn't help getting bored easily, and he was sure he was too lazy to do the normal thing and get a job.

Eventually he felt the car lock give, and pulled the pin free before grabbing the handle and opened the car door carefully, aware that the alarm may still blow at any minute, giving him away and no doubt landing him in some rather serious trouble.

"Good car," Alex muttered quietly as he eased himself into the low down, obsidian black plush leather driving seat, pushing it back slightly to accommodate for his height, as he was a little taller than his brother, shutting the door once he was comfortable, "Now behave while I just start you up," he added absently, leaning down awkwardly into the cramped foot well, grabbing at a bunch of wires tangled away under the steering wheel. Not very ordered for such a fancy car, he couldn't help but think.

As he fumbled with various exposed ends, he kept sitting up slightly to glance at the house; sure that someone was going to catch him.

He was already convinced someone was watching him, and it was making his hair stand on end, creeping him out ever so slightly.

A little while later the engine coughed reluctantly into life, sounding a little rough for a car such as it was, before it finally eased into the classic gentle purr. It was like music to Alex's ears.

Before the radio suddenly clicked into life, causing him to almost leap out his skin as the quiet murmuring of voices filled the car

"Trust Jack to listen to this crap," Alex grunted as he peered at the radio, trying to work out how to switch it off, or at least, turn the volume down. The people on air appeared to be talking about something related to a recent military revelation and the supposed secret section, NEST. Alex had no idea what it stood for, but was vaguely aware that it was something to do with alien robot _things_ and their cover being blown in Paris the other week when the Eiffel Tower was cloven clean in two, causing a considerable amount of damage.

"Yeah right," Alex snorted at he listened, giving up with the radio, deciding to humour himself and listen all the same, "Just some military stunt. Dangerous, stupid one, but one none the less. Them air force guys are always developing crazy new technology. And who wouldn't want to test it out on the French? Giant robots, my ass. Guidable idiots," he shook his head as he put a hand on the Aston Martin's steering wheel and casually put the stick behind it into drive, "No wonder Jack probably believes all this bull. He's an idiot."

With that, he went to gently tap the accelerator gently, but it suddenly reacted more than he'd expected, roaring loudly as the rev counter soared into the four thousand region.

"Hey! Shh!" Alex hissed at the car, glancing up at the house cautiously, "Don't do that."

The engine rumbled a little longer before settling down again, allowing Alex to try again and he pulled away successfully this time.

"That's it," he muttered absently as he headed for the road at the end of the drive, leaving the house behind him as he trundled along quietly. Once at the road, he turned the car gently onto the asphalt and ran his hands over the wheel, "Lets see what you got then, eh girl?" he smiled to himself, however it faltered slightly as the engine choked again, revving up rapidly when he was barely applying any pressure to the gas pedal.

"Jack's ruined this car already," Alex told himself as he flexed his fingers on the wheel, wrapping them around it a little tighter, before simply flooring the gas, deciding not to waste anymore time.

The car leapt forward responsively, instantly accelerating down the deserted highway, bright headlights stretching out in front of it as it easily gained speed as it moved over the smooth ground.

Alex relaxed instantly, giving a little whoop of delight as the car plunged into the never ending darkness, the needle on the speedometer sliding over the numbers effortlessly, easily passing into the triple digits.

As the engine noise increased – a smooth and alluring growl, which could quite easily get Alex rather more excited – the radio's volume increased in order to compensate, allowing Alex to still heard the voices talking.

Once content he was definitely in control, Alex his attention shift from the road to the two men arguing over NEST and the presence of alien life.

"You can fake anything nowadays," Alex grunted in response to one of the men claiming the footage caught of huge metallic life forms crashing into the Eiffel Tower was genuine, and far surpassed military abilities, "Heck, who in their right mind would want to fake humanoid robots? That's such a waste of time. It's been done before. Even trashing Paris and destroying the Eiffel Tower happens way too often in the movies," Alex spoke over the radio, apparently oblivious to the Aston Martin still casually gaining speed as he ranted to himself, "Maybe if they'd gone for the awesome little grey men crawling over Europe shit, it would be cooler. But they even had to have some little yellow and black Camaro rolling around there too. American car in France? Hello? They're not even all that cool!" he rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, "I half wish I could call up those crazy military jerks, whoever, and let them know what a load of idiots that are. Who the hell thinks robots are cool anymore? They're cheap and way, way over done," he grunted, giving a final nod as he let his attention go back to the road, just I time to see a stop sign appearing on the horizon, rapidly coming towards him due to the cars immense speed.

Alex made a little irritated noise. He may break into things and steal stuff, but he still abided by the laws of the road. Breaking laws there was a little more dangerous. A stop sign meant stop, so that's what he would do. Even if it meant having to slow down. With another quiet grunt, he gently pressed his foot to the brake.

However, nothing seemed to happen, and one glance at his speedo told him that the car was in fact, still speeding up.

Even though his foot was no longer on the accelerator.

Alex told himself not to panic as he instinctively gripped onto the wheel, his arms locking as he tried the brakes again, but the DBS still didn't slow.

"Please slow down," he pleaded desperately, "Ease off girl!"

The car seemed to answer him with a furious sounding roar of the engine, ignoring both his plea and foot, which was now pounding on the brake pedal madly.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Alex gasped, slamming his foot down on the brake with each word, before suddenly lunging for the parking brake, slamming it on as quickly as he could, as a last resort.

However that didn't even do anything, and the car continued to rocket down the road, the stop sign now barely visible in the rear view mirror.

"Stop goddamn you!" Alex slammed his fist into the middle of the dash in panicked desperation.

The radio's volume soared and Alex immediately took his hands off the wheel to put his hands protectively over his ears as the voices still discussing the NEST operation drowned out all other sounds, even the growling engine.

"Stop…!" he moaned again, unable to even hear himself think and silently thank that the road he was one was dead straight, so that removing his hands from the wheel wasn't too deadly.

A few more seconds passed with Alex moaning loudly and begging with the car to stop, before suddenly the car had braked harshly.

Had Alex not been wearing his seatbelt, he would have been thrown through the windscreen easily, and probably continued to travel quite a fair distance, however, even though he was strapped in, he was still catapulted far enough forward that he smashed his head into the glass, splitting the skin on his forehead rather dramatically.

He grunted loudly in pain as he was forced to slump over the steering wheel, feeling dazed, confused and disorientated as the car came to a definite halt, the radio falling silent and the parking brake sliding on.

Alex remained where he was for a couple of minutes before moaning loudly again and trying to sit up, a hand going to his pounding head. His hand came away sticky and slick with blood, causing him in his panic to go for the door handle. He yanked on it a few times, but honestly wasn't very surprised to find it was locked.

This car was messed up something stupid.

He mumbled something that sounded like jumbled up cuss words, before slumping back onto the wheel, deciding that at least if he did bleed to death, he'd look good doing it in an Aston Martin.

There was a moments silence in which Alex listened to the crickets chirping loudly outside the car, when he was sure that a slightly English accented, yet oddly almost mechanised male voice, came from somewhere around him, which he couldn't quite pinpoint.

"I'm not female," it sounded distinctly unimpressed.

Alex grunted loudly and looked up, "Wassat? Help? I'm bleeding here. And… I'm hearing voices? Oh God, concussion. Hospital. Somewhere get me there. I'm bleeding all over the shiny leather upholstery," he tried the door pathetically again, but it was still locked.

"So you are," the voice commented casually, "But yes, you are hearing voices. A _male_ voice," it emphasised heavily, a hint of sarcasm coming through.

"Leave me alone," Alex groaned, "This crazy car's nearly killed me."

"Apparently the _car you stole _didn't quite finish the job, did _he_?" the voice was still showing it's irritation through emphasising almost every other thing it said.

"Go away, voice," Alex moaned.

"You believe you're hearing voices but not the news on NEST?" it continued, subtly mocking Alex's vagueness.

"Voices over robots any day. Wait. Why am I talking back to you?" Alex twisted around in his seat painfully, looking behind him, just to check to see if he was definitely alone. Which he was, there being no room in the small cabin to accommodate anyone behind the two front seats, so he was indeed alone. In the middle of nowhere. Just him and his brother's Aston Martin. Oh, and the voice in his head that sounded royally pissed.

"What voice are you anyway?" Alex asked after a moment, "My alter ego? Conscious? Something else? Hey, maybe you're a broken sat nav system!" Alex looked to the dash expectantly.

The voice gave a dramatic sigh, "Your brother may be an idiot, but you're even worse. But then again, you're apparently a very ignorant and extremely narrow-minded boy. At least your brother was just plain naïve, instead of downright stupid."

Alex looked away from the dash and glanced around him again, "You're so mean. Is my head still gushing? Bleeding?" he asked, "I'm really starting to feel funny," he put a hand back to his forehead.

"Yes it is," the voice replied matter-of-factly, "And despite my current dislike for you, I think I'd better get you to a hospital. Sadly, it's not in my nature to hurt…" it searched for the correct word for a moment, "People," it sighed again.

"Can voices in my head hate me?" Alex frowned, wincing as the wound on his head pulled.

"We're going to hospital. Close your eyes and rest," the voice told him.

"Sure thing voice," Alex was happy to oblige, his head throbbing even more painfully now, his brain feeling well and truly scrambled.

"Not voice," it corrected, "Drag. My name is Drag."

Alex gave a woozy laugh, "Like a man in drag? That's what you are? Funny…" he laughed again, before falling silently, simply just passing out. There was a pause before the Aston Martin's engine started up again.

"Humans," the voice muttered as the car set off back down the road, disappearing into the darkness.


	2. I Must Have Hit My Head Really Hard

The next thing Alex knew was that he was waking up in a glaringly white room with the sounds of beeping machinery all around him.

Great. A hospital.

He blinked a few times before carefully pushing himself upright, feeling his head thumping slightly in protest. He ignored it and sat back in the mountain of pillows, looking around him at the small room as he racked his throbbing brain to remind him what had happened.

When it finally came rushing back to him, he put a hand to his head, feeling a gauze patch taped tightly over where the wound was. A glance out the window told him it was the sometime in the afternoon, so he'd obviously been out all morning.

But wait, where the hell was his brother's car? How was he here, when the last thing he could remember was him being a bumbling idiot sitting at the Aston Martin's steering wheel, bleeding all over the place. He was going to be put off Aston Martins for life now.

Alex looked around him again then snatched up a button next to him, which was used for calling for assistance. He began to hammer it repeatedly with a finger until a woman hurried into his room looking a little flustered.

"How did I get here?" Alex asked before she could say anything, "The car. Where's the car?"

The nurse frowned at him, "We found you unconscious in front of A and E. There was no one in sight, no cars. We suspect someone found you unconscious and dropped you off here for us."

"Voices," Alex blurted suddenly, "Drag? My head?" he ran a hand through his hair, forehead creasing in confusion, the bandage crumpling over the wound.

"You hit your head fairly hard by the looks of it," the nurse eyed him up, trying not to look too much like she thought him crazy.

"There was a voice talking to me, said it was called Drag," Alex mused out loud, ignoring the nurse momentarily, "I swear that voice and car were in it together, trying to kill me. It was him, the car. It was definitely male, it was adamant about that. The car is male, and the voice is male. Drag, male, car. Drag the car," he muttered everything he was thinking, even in his broken and disconnected thought pattern.

The nurse was looking like she now didn't want to be right there with Alex and began to back away slowly, "I'll get you some sedative pills," she muttered.

"No wait," Alex quickly put his hands up, snapping out of his thoughts, "Sorry, I'm just a little tired and confused about what happened. Don't mind me," he took a deep breath to make it look like he was calming himself, knowing that if he didn't act too crazy, he could be let out fairly soon and check out his brother's car again. He supposed it had gone home to his fathers. His father and brother wouldn't care about him vanishing in the middle of the night if he just pretended that he'd chased someone out of the fields and wound up knocking himself unconscious by tripping over his own feet. Or he could have just got a little drunk at the local bar that happened regularly enough that his father had given up on lecturing him. If the car, somehow, was still ok, he'd just pretend that nothing drastic had happened.

But he still needed to tell someone, just in case he was insane.

He looked back the nurse who was still watching him warily, "It's ok, I just need a moment to make a call, I'll be out of here soon enough, since no ones said I have concussion," he leant over for the phone on a nearby table.

"Well ok," the nurse muttered, "If you're sure you're ok," she didn't wait for an answer and darted from the room.

"Just dandy," Alex muttered to himself as he punched numbers into the phone rapidly.

He didn't have to wait long before the dialling tone was cut off and was replaced by a voice as a woman answer the phone,

"Hello?"

"Hey, Billy, it's me," Alex tried to sound casual.

There was a pause before the woman responded, "Have you been drinking again Alex? You sound out of it. You always call me when you've been drinking."

"No, not this time," Alex grunted, rolling his eyes and scowling, "I hit my head."

"Sure, like I haven't heard that before," Bill sighed loudly on the other end of the line.

"It's true!" he insisted, "I stole my brother's fancy ass car, took it for a ride, but the brakes went, then suddenly came on. I hit my head real bad on the window. I'm in hospital, no idea where though. But the car, it was talking to me," he added, dropping his voice slightly.

"I believed you up until the car started talking to you," Bill sounded irritated, "You really need to stop calling me when you're drunk. Sober up, then maybe I'll talk to you," she snapped.

"Hey, Bill no, don't. Give me a -." he was cut off by the sound of her hanging up on him, "Minute," he finished as he threw the phone onto the bed, "Maybe I am drunk out my mind. Talking cars? Who the hell am I kidding? Sounds as stupid as that NEST crap… And now I'm talking to myself!" he grunted loudly and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, "Drunken idiot."

He lay back down on the bed, conceding defeat, and was about to close his eyes when another nurse entered his room. He sighed and glanced at her expectantly.

"There's a car outside waiting for you, to take you home," she explained.

"Oh?" Alex frowned, wondering if maybe his father did know where he was and had sent someone to pick him up, "See the driver at all?"

"No, sorry," she shook her head, "The windows were tinted and he didn't waste anytime talking to us."

"Oh right," Alex sighed, sitting up once again, "I feel fine," he lied, "Am I allowed to get out of here?"

"I should think so," she nodded, "The doctor who saw you last night said you may just have a bit of a headache. There's no reason for us to keep you here. Nothing lasting."

"Great, ok, thanks," Alex nodded, "I'll get some proper clothes on then be on my way. You'll handle all the paperwork won't you?" he turned on the charm, smiling at her suggestively, "I'm sure you'd get through it fair quicker than me."

She giggled slightly, flushing, "Well, ok. I'll sort it all out."

"Thanks," he winked at her, causing her to giggle again and hurry out the room. Once she'd left, Alex sighed dramatically and slipped out of bed, checking their was no way the nurse might be able to see him getting undressed, before gathering up his clothes, pulling off the horrible nightdress he was stuck in.

He'd just get on and pretend nothing odd had happened last night. Crazy stuff happens, that's life, he told himself.

Once dressed, his white shirt only showing a little blood splatter on the collar, Alex casually sauntered out of the room, trying to look like he knew where he was going. He didn't recognise this one, to be honest, so he wound up getting lost a few times. But he did eventually pass the main desk, pausing briefly to smile at the nurse again where she was obviously filling out his documents. He then made his way out into the sunlight and thick, humid heat through a set of sliding double doors.

He fanned himself briefly with a hand, without much effect however, his head beginning to throb again. Hopefully once he got home, he could relax in the cool air-conditioned house, get some food and get down to recovering.

Luckily it was easy for him to find his ride home, since it was the only car waiting in the picking up bay at the front of the hospital. The vehicle was a large Cadillac Escalade, black in colour so that the tinted windows almost merged into the paintwork, the only colour being the Cadillac badge on the front and the chromed grill. Not really Alex's choice of car, but it was big and therefore a reasonable choice of transportation in his eyes.

He didn't recognise it, but it had seemingly become a habit of some people to change their cars virtually twice a year, so he went over to it all the same. People in his area of Texas were generally laid back, good neighbours and willing to help, so for all he knew, it could have been someone from a neighbouring farm who'd just updated their car. They may have heard about him from someone else, or his father had found out and sent them.

Whatever happened, he'd just have to go with it. It was his fault for messing around last night, after all.

Once he reached the passenger door, he opened it quickly and slid into the cool filtered air in the cab, sighing with relief. He then religiously shut the door and put clicked his seatbelt on before sitting back, looking at the drivers seat.

However, it was empty, the driver having vanished.

"Oh great," Alex grunted, "Where the hell they got to?"

He gave another sigh and ran a hand over his face, trying to get comfortable as he prepared to wait. They might have just gone off to get a coffee while they had been waiting for him to turn up.

However, after a few minutes, without warning, the engine suddenly roared into life of its own accord.

Instinctively Alex tensed and sat up straight, watching in horror and confusion as the parking brake was let off and was put into drive. He glanced behind him at the empty back seats, before grabbing hold of the door, scrambling at the lock in vain.

"Not again!" he swore under his breath as the Escalade moved off, just as if someone was driving it.

Alex had no idea what to do. How often did one get trapped in self-driving cars? Apparently he was just unlucky to have it happen to him twice in less than twenty-four hours. After last night with the DBS, Drag, whatever it was, he was sure the brakes wouldn't work. It seemed cars had turned against him. Maybe stealing something like his brother's Aston Martin had been the final straw. With all the technology in cars nowadays, he wouldn't be surprised if the 'Kill Alex' chip had been activated in them all.

He continue to try and get the door open, occasionally bashing the dash in frustration, while demanding to be released, as if that might work.

But the car kept going, following others, changing lanes, stopping at traffic lights, all other drivers oblivious to Alex scrambling around wildly behind the darkened windows, pleading for help. To any observers, the Escalade was a perfectly normal car. To Alex it was like reliving a nightmare. At least the previous night had taken place in an Aston Martin. He could have died in style. Not in this huge beast of an SUV.

"Let me out, Goddamn you!" Alex yelled yet again as he kicked the door, while they trundled casually down the street through another set of traffic lights. He was half hoping the Cadillac would answer him like the DBS, but he also hoped this was all just a terrible drunk induced dream and he'd wake up sprawled across a bar at four in the morning.

But as they paused at yet another set of traffic lights, then pulled off once they were green, Alex soon realised how real things were and that his mortality was suddenly in some very real danger, because as he looked to his left, the equally black and hulking great flatbed Dodge Ram speeding towards them looked deadly enough.

Alex barely had time to think about people jumping lights and them being moronic dicks, then cling onto the door for dear life before the huge truck slammed into the empty drivers side of the Escalade, easily shunting it all the way across the crossroads.

Alex couldn't quite be sure, but he hoped he wasn't screaming like he wanted to.

He knew the Cadillac wouldn't topple; it was an extremely sturdy vehicle, but the Ram was doing a brilliant job of living up to it's name, continuing to drive into the side of the Escalade, which was unable to move free, its front left wheel and wing twisted from the force of the truck's impact.

All around them, cars were swerving violently out of their path, horns blaring loudly as the Dodge continued to push them, almost casually, down the incorrect side of the road.

Cars were definitely trying to kill him, Alex was sure of that now.

Eventually, after a few blocks, the Dodge finally eased off and rolled back a little way from the Cadillac before beginning to rev its engine threateningly instead.

The Escalade seemed in no state to do anything, its engine whining pathetically now. But luckily the driver's door appeared to have been damaged in the collision too, and had twisted open slightly on the hinges.

After a moments hesitation, and once he was sure the Cadillac wouldn't bolt off, Alex unbuckled himself and crawled across to the driver's side. A good well placed kick caused the damaged door to swing open, exposing Alex not only to freedom, but also the rumbling and intimidating Ram.

Alex stared at it, unable to make out a driver at the wheel, causing him to feel a little nauseous. He really wouldn't come off very well if the Ram went for him. He'd just be a mark on the pavement.

He hesitated again, the lack of a plan springing to mind making him nervous, but he eventually steeled himself before throwing himself out of the Cadillac, making a break for it and running for the safety of the sheltered sidewalk.

He didn't bother to look behind him as he heard sirens approaching. Hopefully the cops would find out whoever was behind the two crazy driverless cars, and arrest both them and their vehicles before they did succeed into killing him.

However, had he bothered to even glance over his shoulder while he ran, he would have seen the Dodge casually begin to trail after him as if nothing had ever happened, keeping a fair distance between them, not looking at all like it might attack him.


	3. Undercover, Man

By the time Alex was exhausted and forced to slow to a walk, he still had very little idea of where he was. He shoved a hand in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, planning on calling someone for help, even if it was Bill who would bite his head off again, but he cursed loudly when he saw a huge crack running down the centre of the screen. Apparently _it_ hadn't survived the encounter with the Ram.

He was now stuck somewhere, with no contacts, very little money, and a still painfully throbbing head. Everyone, his father, brother and Bill, would think he was just out drinking or doing something stupid. He cursed himself for being so habitual.

Desperate for a breather, Alex turned into a side alley and wandered a little way down it to where a shiny, dark crimson Ford Mustang GT was parked to one side, causing him to eye it up cautiously. He couldn't be too careful now.

However, when it didn't spring into life and try and run him over, Alex just settled to admiring it casually, running his eyes over the two black racing strips that ran over the hood, disappearing under the windscreen, only to appear and continue over the roof and down the back. It didn't look half bad actually. And it looked like it had been pimped out with a killer sound system, by the looks of the whole back of the car having been turned over to speaker space. He wouldn't mind one of these cars, if the money happened to come his way, that was.

He was just bending to peer into the drivers window to admire it some more when he head a quiet rumble from the end of the alley that he'd come from, alerting him to the black Dodge truck that was slowly rolling down the alley towards him.

Alex backed himself into the Mustang quickly, supposing he could use it as cover if the truck tried to crush him.

But the Ram did eventually come to a halt in front of him, the engine settling as it ticked over. After a moment, Alex put his hands up in defence, just to be on the safe side, "Whatever I've done, I'm sorry. Really. I am. I didn't mean it. Please don't run me over," he pressed himself against the Mustang, hoping he wasn't scratching the paintwork, even if that was the least of his concerns, "Even if you can't hear me," Alex tried again, now adding in hand motions, "You're big, I'm small," he waved his arms around, "You don't want to waste your time on me."

Alex kept his hands up, looking around him nervously. He twitched violently when the engine of the Ram suddenly revved loudly, then began to waver slightly. Had Alex closed his eyes, the sound could almost have passed off for laughter. But faced with the chrome grill of the Ram, it just sounded like what he guessed his impending doom was.

However, if Alex wasn't quite on the verge of soiling his underwear, he was now as the front of the Ram, straight down the hood, a split appeared, and faster than his eyes could follow, the truck pulled apart and began to fold and twist in ways that Alex could never have imagined. Doors, windows, metal, the engine, they all flew past his eyes as they moved around rapidly, the sound of graunching metal filling his ears, the previous truck form of the Ram disappearing completely as every single part of the vehicle moved to a new position, taking on a humanoid shape.

Alex was virtually lying on the Mustang now, looking up with wide eyes as the truck-thing straightened up to its full height, the last thing to finally slide into place being the now reformed bonnet over its chest, acting like a breast plate. It was now towering over him, virtually as tall as the buildings around them. He guessed that it must be around twenty feet tall, at least. Two piercing blue eyes imbedded in a face of metal stared down at him intently, while its shoulder moved slightly, suggesting it was laughing a little at him still.

Alex had no idea what to say or do. One didn't often come face to face with something like this. It was almost exactly like the NEST reports on the news that he so violently opposed. He was frozen to the spot in disbelief as he tried to take in the mass of seemingly organic metal that had just seconds ago been a popular pickup truck.

Eventually he managed to mutter a rather quiet and garbled, "Shit," followed by, "Please don't kill me."

The thing before him seemed to find that though amusing, and laughed out loud properly before responding in a voice similar to that of the Aston Martins, however accentless, deeper and smoother, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Alex swallowed nervously and slowly put his hands down, letting them fall to his sides, though he stayed pressed against the Mustang.

"You can relax," the truck offered, "For now, at least," he added.

Alex didn't look like he'd be taking that advice anytime soon, and if anything just tensed up even more, "What… What are you?" he asked eventually, ignoring the thoughts that it was some kind of illusion or hallucination whirling around his head.

"Crossfire will explain it to you later. We need to get you out of this area and move you to the northeast," he – Alex presumed it was male – replied.

"What? We? Get me where?" Alex blinked in confusion, suddenly actually feeling as stupid as he knew he was. Normally he was just ignorant.

The truck sighed and shook its head, "Jak, quit fooling around," he looked back Alex towards the Mustang.

"Aw man, Traction, you spoil my fun!" another voice, far more flowing and upbeat came from behind Alex, who leapt away from the car as its engine stared up and both its doors flung open suddenly, narrowly mission him.

"Jak," Traction folded his arms, his metallic face somehow crumpling into obvious disapproval.

The Mustang's doors slammed shut and it rolled back away from Alex a little, "You know me, Tract. Can't help myself. Was planning something cool, it was all good, but you went and blew it."

"Now isn't the time for playing, you heard what Drag said. What Crossfire told us," Traction kept his arms folded.

"Yeah, yeah, sure man," the Mustang rocked back and forth on its suspension casually.

"Uh…" Alex hesitantly put in, not really liking that the two things were talking over his head, "Drag? As in the DBS?"

"Yeah, that's the one," Jak came up behind Alex again and nudged him gently, "He's cool, just a little stuck up. Very mood swing-y too. Though he's a good one, has the best interests and all."

"Oh right," Alex didn't quite understand the Mustang, too busy trying to shuffle away from the car as it continued to bump him up the backside.

"Jak, stop that," Traction sighed, rolling his eyes in a fashion Alex couldn't quite work out how it happened, "We need to be on our way."

"Way where? I can't just go with you. Stranger danger," Alex glanced around him briefly, wondering if arguing with a twenty-foot truck was a good idea in itself.

"It's the safest plan," Traction shook his head.

"Unless you want Envoy up your ass again!" Jak opened and slammed his doors again for emphasis.

"Envoy?" Alex frowned.

"The black Cadillac you got into," Traction's voice darkened, his eyes seeming to dim too, "We don't quite understand his orders, but hopefully he'll be limping back to Doomsday to deliver the message that he's not getting you easily."

Alex shook his head slightly. Doomsday? Envoy? Crossfire? Who the hell were these things? He ran a hand over his face and through his hair, shaking his head, "I don't get this. Aren't you things from the NEST military operation? What do I have to do with anything?"

Traction glanced at Jak who rose up on his suspension, "We're related to them. But we stay separate."

"Undercover, man," Jak dipped his hood to look as if he were nodding.

"So undercover," Alex muttered as he ran his eyes over Traction, "Subtlety isn't your forte, apparently."

Traction bent down slightly, slowly lowering himself onto knee and brought his face level with Alex, "Sometimes you have to see things to believe them."

"Fair enough," Alex took a step back in defence before glancing at Jak, "How come he hasn't transformed into something big and human-like like you?"

Jak suddenly revved his engine loudly and backed away down the alley, beginning to muttered quietly to himself.

Traction shook his head, "It's not best to mention that around him, but you weren't to know that. He was damaged in a conflict with the enemy, Hazard. He's stuck in his vehicle form for now. Pulse, our medic, tried everything to fix him, but nothing seems to work. If we wanted to go home, he couldn't come with us."

"Oh," Alex looked at Jak who was a little way off, turning his front wheels this way and that in the dirt, scuffing them loudly, "And where is your home exactly?" Alex asked while on the subject.

"Cybertron. A way away from here," Traction turned his eyes skyward, "But we've been here on your planet since Optimus Prime called for Autobot support against the Decepticons. Your NEST is an organisation between us Autobots, and you humans against a common enemy. Once originally just Megatron, he now has numerous Decepticons working in squads beneath him, wreaking havoc on Earth."

Alex nodded blankly, having no idea what any of what Traction had said meant. All he'd been able to grasp, albeit it loosely, was that whatever Traction, Jak and Drag were, they were Autobots, aliens from another planet, and that NEST really did appear to be real. Sometimes all it took was a giant robot and a talking Ford Mustang to change ones stance on things.

"We too have our groups under Prime, our group of five is led by Crossfire. We, along with other small bands of Autobots, keep out of the human eye. Until now, at least, it seems," Traction shifted himself, "I don't have time to explain it all right now. We're to meet at a set location in southern Nevada to discuss this sudden change in our way of working. I apologise for your involvement, but suddenly you've become a key part of this fight."

"You expect me to just get up and go?" Alex frowned.

"Yes," Traction looked a little confused.

"People will wonder where I am, I can't just disappear! My father, my brother. My friend. She'll know something is up; she's smart. I have to see her," Alex took his phone out of his pocket and showed it's broken screen to Traction, "I would call her, but your 'saving me' stunt broke my cell."

"Opps," Traction peered at the phone, trying to look vaguely interested before he straightened up, metal grinding as he did so, "Had Pulse been here, he would have fixed it. But since he's not, we must get on our way and we'll see him there."

"I need to talk to my friend," Alex insisted, almost forgetting he was demanding like a spoilt child to a giant alien robot who could just step on him and shut him up.

"Let the human swing by his friend on the way," Jak rolled up behind Alex, having heard that they'd moved off the topic of his damage.

"Yeah, I'll just say I'm going on a road trip," Alex nodded at Jak in appreciation.

"Hmm," Traction studied Alex before sighing and giving a brief nod, "Very well."

"She's just inside Amarillo. That's sort of north right? I have no idea where your friend ditched me," Alex shrugged.

"We can go east to Nevada from there. Crossfire and the others are meeting at our special location," Traction nodded.

"My brother will be pissed to find his car missing," Alex muttered.

"Like you care," Jak commented casually, "Not when you stole Drag last night."

Alex grunted and huffed loudly in response, not bothering to reply.

"We're currently in Lubbock," Traction offered to change the subject.

"What the hey? Why? I live way east of here!" Alex stared at him.

"Drag took you to the place he deemed most secure and would offer you the best treatment. Also that's where we were at that time," Traction shrugged.

"Well thanks for the help, but that Envoy guy still got to me," Alex muttered.

"That's exactly why you need to be moved. Drag suggested Reaper took you, but with Spectre constantly on his tail, it's more dangerous than the roads. At least for long stretches," Traction nodded.

Alex cocked his head to one side in confusion.

"Reaper's a helicopter, Spectre's a jet," Jak put it simply.

"Oh right," Alex nodded vaguely, deciding that he'd better just look like he understood instead of racking his brains to make sense of things. He supposed he might find out more once they reached their destination.

"You get in Jak," Traction told his as he stepped back and bent down, once again beginning to unfold and twist, rapidly reforming into the black Dodge Ram.

Alex just stared at Traction in front of him before he heard Jak open a door behind him.

"Get in then," he prompted, before adding, "I'll drive."

Alex hesitated slightly, "Isn't that like me getting inside you?"

"Sick," Jak bobbed up and down, "Not really. We don't have insides like you. So in you get."

Alex sighed and clambered into the drivers side carefully. The door slammed shut and the engine picked up in volume as the radio blared into life, all the speakers behind him working hard as if trying to deafen him.

Traction set off in front of them and Jak followed behind closely, rocking back and forth on his suspension in time with the music that Alex didn't recognise. He grabbed his seatbelt and yanked it on, latching onto the door as he watched the steering wheel in front of him turning left and right as they made their way out of the ally, and back onto the main street, blending in with the traffic perfectly.


	4. Pysco Alien Roadtrip

After just under two hours of straight interstate and Jak humming loudly along with his music, the two cars finally arrive in the outskirts of Amarillo. A brief argument and Alex ensued upon arrival, which ended with Alex reluctantly taking over the wheel to drive them normally to Bill's house, a little way from the city's college and main downtown area.

Traction dropped behind them, letting Alex lead the way to the rather posh, residential part of town.

It didn't take long for them to pull up outside Bill's large, house which looked a lot like a mansion crammed in with others of a similar style. Alex honestly preferred little wooden houses, but Bill had money and liked to flaunt it, especially when he had very little. He'd rather spend all his money on a car, rather than a car _and_ a house. The house looked like it wasn't in Texas, the area more like Los Angeles with the fancy trees, large garages and towering white homes. But Bill liked it, and after all it was her house, not his. Her money not his.

"Remember in an out," Jak swung open his door, "No touchy feely stuff. Tract will most likely drive into the house if you take too long, thinking you've been got."

Alex flushed slightly at Jak's casual comment in regard to intimacy, since Bill was just his friend, nothing more, but he tried to ignore it all the same, "If he does, I don't think anyone would be happy."

"I'll keep him preoccupied," Jak waited for Alex to get out of the driver's seat before edging casually and slowly towards Traction who was parked facing him.

Alex sighed and hurried away from the two vehicles, up the house's path, weaving through the various flowers and plants lining it.

He stopped in front of the door and was just preening himself prior to ringing the doorbell when the door opened itself, revealing Bill standing in the doorway, arms folded tightly across her chest, her red hair snaking over her shoulders.

"I'm not drunk," Alex said quickly before she could start.

"The brand new shiny Mustang?" she indicated Jak.

"What?" Alex glanced at the car then twigged, "No! I didn't steal it!"

"You sure didn't buy it," she raised her eyebrows.

"It's a friends. I'm borrowing it for a road trip," he covered as casually as he could.

"Alex, I'm your only friend. That's not my car. No one you know would even have a Mustang, let along lend you one if they were sane. You stole it," Bill scowled.

"No, Bill listen," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "The car. It's a psycho robot alien. It's trying to take me somewhere. Some Cadillac nearly killed me!"

Bill stared at him before shaking her head in disgust, then suddenly just slapped him hard in the face, "You are drunk. Drunk and driving. Alex, I told you to stop before you hurt someone!"

Alex yelped in pain as her hand collided with his face, "I'm not drunk!" he touched his cheek gingerly, wincing, "Can you smell alcohol on me? No? That's because I'm sober! I may have hit my head," he indicated the gauze, "But I'm fine. I'm not lying. I'm not drunk. The car is alive!"

"Get out Alex, I'm not talking to you until you stop spouting crap, drunk or not. I want my friend back," with that Bill slammed the door in his face, her footsteps audible as she stalked away.

Alex stared at the door before growling a few curses as he turned away and slumped back to Jak.

"Interesting," the Mustang commented as he let Alex back into the driver's seat, "At least you vaguely mentioned the road trip."

Alex grunted, "You have women where you're from?"

Jak shrugged by lifting up his front and letting it drop, "Sure, but they're not like her. She seems pretty cool. She's got style, I like it."

"Oh, yeah? Slapping equal cool?" Alex rubbed his cheek, grumbling to himself, "Women are insane. She's always convinced I'm drunk. I've only called her a few times when I've been out of it, and I've only turned up with a stolen car once," he muttered.

Jak snorted slightly as he revved his engine, "No comment there."

Alex scowled and sat back in the seat, folding his arms, "You guys take me where you want to. This road trip had better be good."

"Eight hundred miles with me? It'll be fantastic!" Jak immediately cranked up the music's volume again, almost blasting Alex's ears off.

"Oh yeah," Alex muttered, "Fantastic," he purposefully put his hands over his ears, but Jak didn't seem to notice as Traction pulled away in front of them, leading the way.

Meanwhile, unknown to Alex, Bill was watching him and the other car pull away from her house from where she was crouched down by her own silver BMW 1 Series convertible. She had no idea what Alex was playing at, but she wasn't going to let him get himself into deadly trouble. At least she remembered the meaning of friendship.

Just as the Ram and Mustang began to disappear down her street, she slipped into her car and quickly started the engine, backing out of her driveway.

She was prepared for a long drive, and wasn't letting him out of her sight.


	5. Fusion

A good eleven hours later, full of solid driving, Alex woke up with a loud grunt, almost hitting his head on the dash as he shot up from where he'd been sprawled across the driver and passenger's seats. Good thing the windows in this car were also tinted.

Alex couldn't help but wonder how the hell he'd managed to fall asleep with Jak's music blaring out, but he guessed he was just really tired. It looked to be about five in the morning, the sun just coming up behind him.

"You're awake? Good timing," Jak commented, lowering the music volume to speak.

Alex grunted quietly, resisting the urge to ask how a car would see both the road, all around _and _inside the cabin at the same time.

"We're just about there," he continued, sounding a little too forcefully cheerful.

"Great," Alex muttered, looking out of the windows, only to see… Nothing. Just desert, "Where is 'there' exactly?"

"Southern tip of Nevada, below Las Vegas. An old abandoned military station in the middle of the desert. NEST were kind enough to give it to us as a 'base of operations'," Jak explained, "It's hardly five star accommodation. Drag complains a lot. But hey, what doesn't the guy complain about?"

Alex just nodded vaguely, wondering where in the world, no, universe, an alien learnt to speak English in such a lazy and laid back fashion. Traction had a hint of distance about himself, despite being friendly enough, but it seemed to be more of a professional, almost military distance. But Jak didn't appear to have any of that.

A little way ahead of them, Alex watched as Traction turned off the main road onto a track that was barely visible.

"Off road time," Jak commented as they followed the truck off road, beginning to rumble over the rough surface. Alex was thrown all over the place and was forced to brace himself in his seat to avoid being smashed into the dash.

"Hard suspension, soften it please?" Alex grunted as they bounced over a tiny pothole, which sent shocked up Alex's back.

"Makes it more fun this way," Jak sounded like he was enjoying himself a little too much for Alex's liking.

"You don't have passengers often, do you?" Alex asked.

"You're my first," Jak replied proudly as they bounced after Traction, who looked as though the track was causing no problems for him. But then again, Rams were made to go off road after all.

Alex didn't bother to continue to conversation as they moved behind a rise in the ground, which sheltered them from view of the main road. They now came face to face with a large open hanger, most likely for aircraft, as well as a few other smaller structures, which was surrounded by a high metal fence, topped with razor wire.

If this was the Autobot's home, Alex couldn't help but wonder why they put up with it, it was far from homely. But then again, he had no idea what 'homely' was for an alien robot thing that could transform into various vehicles. Drag probably had a right to complain, but since he appeared to be some snooty English car, Alex probably should expect him to be picky.

They slowed as they approached the hanger, allowing Alex to make out a few inorganic shapes in the gloom of the building. He couldn't help but wonder if he was letting himself into a trap, but by now it was too late for him. He couldn't run for it, even if his life depended on it. Cars could out pace a human after all.

"Everyone's here now," Jak told him casually as they followed Traction into the hanger and pulled over to one side, allowing Alex's eyes to adjust to the dim light before he ran his gaze over the line of vehicles before him.

They were lined up neatly, all of them perfectly still, just as vehicles should be, seemingly in height order, the biggest, a helicopter, at one end, and Drag, the Aston Martin, at the other. However, Traction tagged onto that end, spoiling the height order. Alex was about to study the cars in more detail, able to identify them fairly easily, but Jak opened the door, breaking his concentration.

"Get out so that they can see you. Nothing will happen, don't worry," he reassured him.

He grunted quietly then sighed, slipping out of the seat, stepping out into the open.

As soon as he was out of the Mustang, Jak swung away from him, shutting his door as he bounced casually towards Traction, leaving Alex alone and feeling rather too exposed for his liking in the middle of the hanger.

Once again Alex went to look over the vehicles, but the largest one, beside the chopper, rolled forward, breaking the line.

To Alex, it just looked like a normal aerial fire truck, the kind with the huge ladder and special platform with a little bit of articulation behind the drivers came to allow for manoeuvrability. He didn't know if fire trucks had makes or models, so he just guessed it was some standard red and white truck. Alex couldn't help but envision it trampling him, however.

Just as he went to take a defensive step back, the fire truck began to split and buckle in various places, similar to how Traction had done in the alley previously. Alex stared, once again transfixed, only just registering as the other four also began to split apart, Jak rolling off to sulk.

After a lot of grinding and graunching of metal, Alex was forced to crane his neck as he took in the five humanoid Autobots, their variously coloured eyes fixed on him.

The one who'd been a fire truck mere moments ago took another step towards Alex. He guessed that he was at least twenty-five feet tall, only just fitting in the hanger. It bent down slightly to get a better look at Alex, luminous yellow eyes blinking at him until it straightened up again.

"My name is Crossfire," his voice seemed to resonate around them, again sounding different and unique. Those few words told Alex that this Autobot meant business, and was clearly the one in charge here, "This is my 'team'. We are autonomous robotic organisms. Autobots for short," he continued, "I'm sure Traction has told you at least something?" he glanced in Traction's direction, receiving a nod from him.

Alex nodded absently too, although he still felt out the loop, still barely knowing and understanding anything.

Crossfire looked back at Alex then turned to the others, beginning to point them out one by one, "You know Dragstar," he indicated Drag, the shortest of them all at about fourteen feet.

"Of course he does," Drag shrugged, "He stole me."

"Now Dragstar," Crossfire looked at him disapprovingly.

"It's Drag," he grunted in response, folding his arms, "You call me that, human," he looked at Alex with icy blue eyes, causing Alex to nod quickly.

Crossfire sighed and looked back at Alex, "You also know Traction," he paused to let Traction nod in acknowledgment again, before giving a brief salute, "And Hijack, otherwise known as Jak."

"We're good friends," Jak commented, "Eight hours driving forms some bonds, y'know?" the Mustang rocked back and forth on his suspension. Although he sounded casual, Alex detected a hint of jealously in his voice, guessing it was something yet again related to the other being able to revert to their natural form.

"And," Crossfire continued, "There's Pulse, our medic and mechanic," he indicated the robot next to Traction who'd previously been a Ford F250 kitted out to act as a emergency response fire paramedic vehicle in red and white, now standing at just a little taller than Traction, most likely twenty-two feet.

"Traction tells me he broke your communication device. Give it to me later and I'll fix it," Pulse offered, "I can fix anything."

"Almost everything," Jak huffed bitterly.

"I'm still trying, Jak, I haven't given up hope," Pulse sighed, shaking his head and closing his white eyes.

"It's been three years now," Jak muttered, turning away again.

Crossfire sighed too and decided to quickly finish introductions, "Lastly we have Reaper."

Alex looked over to the form that had replaced the Black Hawk helicopter. Dull grey lit eyes blinked at him as Reaper nodded a silent greeting.

"We though he couldn't speak at first," Pulse offered, "However it appeared he just chooses not to for some reason. He won't enlighten us."

Reaper gave a slight shrug and smile, allowing Alex to see two of the chopper blade from his previous form were flat against his back, while the remaining two stuck up over his shoulders in a similar fashion to twin katanas. In other words, Alex noticed he looked rather deadly. Silent, but deadly.

Crossfire ran his eyes over the Autobots before turning his attention back to Alex, "We've allowed you to become aware of our presence, only because of a turn in events. Dragstar shouldn't have spoken to you previously, however. We keep to ourselves, only occasionally coming in contact with Optimus Prime and the human organisation NEST. They make suggestions to us, but otherwise trust us to go about our own business. We're not as disruptive as they can be," Crossfire rolled his eyes, obviously referring to the recent event in Paris.

"So… What's the reason you want me?" Alex spoke for the first time he'd entered the hanger.

Crossfire gave a little humourless smile and knelt down to talk to him easier, "_We_ don't want you, as such. The Decepticons, Doomsday and the others, want you. We've brought you to us to protect you from them. You've already had a close encounter with Doomsday's right hand, Envoy."

"Why do they want me," Alex frowned, looking confused, "I'm nothing special. Just a layabout."

"And a thief," Drag added casually.

"Shut up," Traction whacked the smaller Autobot in the shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards. As Drag fell over onto his backside, which caused quite a bit of noise, Alex vaguely noted that instead of rough feet like the others, Drag instead had the wheels from his Aston Martin form, which he supposed offered more speed and manoeuvrability.

"Watch it, Traction," Drag glared at him as he struggled back to his feet.

"Dragstar," Crossfire growled in warning, causing him to instantly mutter an apology. Crossfire nodded and continued to Alex, "We recently had to reassess what we've been doing during our time here on Earth. Drag noticed something when you were… Borrowing him," he chose his words carefully to avoid more arguing. Alex wondered if all groups of Autobots got on like this one. He supposed Optimus and NEST had to be slightly closer knit. Or it was just Drag being awkward.

"Notice what?" Alex asked, frowning once again, causing the gauze on his forehead to begin to irritate him. He rubbed it in irritation, instantly regretting it as he grazed the wound.

"Dragstar?" Crossfire looked at Drag expectantly.

The Autobot stepped forward as Crossfire straightened up and moved over to Jak. Being the smallest compared to the others, Alex didn't have to really look up that much. He guessed the smaller and lighter the vehicle form, the smaller they wound up being.

"You hit your head when I braked," Drag began, "Which you deserved," he added.

"Drag, you're as bad as those Decepticon bastards sometimes," Jak revved his engine threateningly, "Watch it or Doomsday, maybe even Megatron, will be trying to recruit you like some new protoform kid."

Drag just glared at him briefly, but looked a little put off by what the other Autobot had said all the same. Crossfire glanced at Jak too, but didn't say anything, allowing Drag to continue while he stayed silent.

Drag made a slightly strangled noise, which Alex guessed was him clearing his throat, before carrying on, "As I was saying, you hit your head. It drew blood, so I took you to hospital. However, after I dropped you off, I began to notice something that centred around the seat you'd been in."

"I'll cut in here to explain something," Pulse came in, "There's a metal compound which is valuable to the people of Cybertron, and it's used as a kind of medicine, for healing parts. In average quantities, it can bring back those from the brink of death. However, if enough is acquired, it can be used to make the user near immortal, healing and regenerating virtually instantly, before more wounds can occur. We call it Fusion."

Alex snorted quietly, "Original."

"And our names aren't," Jak sounded like he was grinning, obviously thinking the same thing.

Pulse just nodded, "The small deposit on Cybertron was used up fairly quickly, so we set out in search of it on nearby planets. Some planets were plentiful, while others had nothing at all. However, our recent presence on Earth made the Decepticons curious as to whether this planet harbours any. Geological surveys revealed nothing, however, its been found that a small, very small, number of humans have Fusion present in their blood, combined with some of their iron. As far as we know, it's harmless and has no known effects on the human, not like it does on our people."

"So what are you trying to say?" Alex cocked his head slightly.

"We thought it was carried by your brother," Drag took over again, "Hence why I was forced to pose as his car. However, apparently we got the wrong Sheppard."

Alex continued to look confused, looking at Pulse.

The Autobot shrugged, "Drag detected Fusion in your blood, Alex. The Decepticons will kill any human they get their hands on, but those with Fusion would suffer during the extraction process. Several have died already before Autobots could help. We nearly lost you too if Traction hadn't reached you in time. Now we're here to keep you safe."

"Obviously we can't go everywhere with you. That's why only one or two of us will be out in the open with you," Crossfire added, "Constant protection."

"I have an alien metal in my body which giant robots what to kill me for?" Alex blinked.

"In short, yeah. Think of it that way if it makes it better," Jak rolled over to him slowly.

"Oh right," Alex muttered absently, "And I have other, supposedly good, robots as babysitters?"

"Technically we're not robots," Pulse cut in, "We think for ourselves. Autonomous robots is about as close as you'll get, as Crossfire mentioned before."

"Don't confuse the human too much, Pulse," Drag snorted, "He processes things at a slow rate."

Traction gave a low grumbling growl, glancing his way.

"What?" Drag returned the look.

"You two, please," Crossfire muttered, "It's understandable Alex is a little confused."

Traction put his hands up and took a step back, "I'm not the one with human issues, nor issues in general. Drag's just easily wound up, namely by humans."

"I'll talk to him later," Crossfire just gave a short nod, ignoring Drag fold his arms and turn away from them.

Alex had fallen silent as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening. He'd just about got over cars turning into whatever the Autobots were, but to suddenly say he was some precious metal compound carrier was beginning to push things back into the land of make believe.

He ran his hand over his face, vaguely aware of Jak edging towards him again,

"Come on, this isn't all bad. We won't let the Decepticons get you," he nudged Alex behind that knees so that he sat down heavily on the Mustang's hood.

"Yeah, I know," Alex muttered ,sounding a little distant.

"It's all cool. You get to hang with us," Jak bounced up and down.

"Yeah," Alex repeated vaguely.

"Jak, leave him for a moment," Traction suggested, "Give him some room to breathe."

"Sure, sure," he gave his characteristic shrug, allowing Alex to get back to his feet before moving away slowly.

"Take your time Alex," Crossfire stepped away too and began to lead the Autobots across the hanger.

Alex sighed loudly and sat down on the floor, allowing himself to have a moment to begin to think things through again.


	6. To Vegas

Behind him, Crossfire had taken Drag over to one side, towering over the small Autobot as he obviously tried to set him straight. Traction and Pulse have moved over to the open hanger door and were looking out, while Jak held a one sided conversation with Reaper, who was nodding every so often.

"You think the human will be ok?" Traction was asking Pulse as they stared into the open desert.

Pulse shrugged, "He doesn't seem scared, just confused. I don't think he's having an easy time seeing what he's believing. Humans are narrow-minded when it comes to the possibility of other life forms. Time will tell, although he really has no other option than to stay with at least one of us all the time."

"We can't force him though," Traction shook his head, "Crossfire would never allow us to use force. I wouldn't want to use force myself. This is the human's planet, not ours. We're merely visitors helping out."

Pulse nodded in agreement, "That's true. The humans need to make decisions for themselves, without us interfering too much."

"Even if it means Alex dying at the hands of the Decepticons, like others before him," Traction muttered.

"Even that I suppose," Pulse sighed, "We can't win. The humans have been brought into a fight that was never theirs. But on their planet, we can't tell them what to do," he turned his eyes skyward, "I wonder if this war will ever end. If we'll ever go home or achieve peace. This can't go on forever can it? So many dying. There must be a…" Pulse trailed off, still staring at the sky.

"What is it?" Traction looked up too to see a fairly large, what looked a little like a meteor, was streaking through the sky, its burning tail leaving a think blazing trail of smoke behind it.

"It's a protoform," Pulse muttered, "Looks like he's been knocked off course. He's heading north west of here, not too far either."

"Got good taste," Jak commented as he came up behind them.

"Or just wants to make a mess," Traction muttered.

"We need to get to him before the Decepticons do," Pulse turned away, stepping over Jak carefully as he headed towards Crossfire who looked like he'd finished with Drag who was now talking to Reaper.

Crossfire looked up at his approach, giving him a questioning glance, "Was that what I thought it was?"

Pulse nodded, "He's going to land close to here."

Crossfire inclined his head in acknowledgment, "We'll go to meet him. Take him away before the Decepticons get here. They might be in the area for all we know, especially since Spectre appears when we think it's usually safe."

Traction moved over to them too, "What about Alex?"

"The human will have to go with us. We want to keep him safe but if Decepticons are waiting for us, or we cross pats, then we're flaunting him. But still, it's the only way," Crossfire glanced at Alex who was still running his hands over his face, on the floor.

"At least we can be prepared. Reaper can look after him, so long as Spectre is kept on the ground," Pulse shrugged.

"Reaper is a valuable fighter though," Crossfire looked a little torn.

"We can cope," Traction flexed his hands.

Crossfire looked at Alex again before turning towards Reaper, heading over to him with a sigh, briefly chucking over his shoulder, "Talk to the human, Jak."

Jak bobbed up and down, "Sure thing," he began to roll towards Alex casually, squeezing between Traction's legs on the way.

Alex heard him approaching and looked up, now appearing to be at least a little more composed, but still a bit frazzled.

"Hey bud," Jak came to a stop beside him.

"You sound overly cheerful, even for you," Alex glanced at him, still not quiet sure where he should be looking. The hood? The windshield? "What's going on now?" he asked.

Jak flashed his blinkers, which Alex guessed might be him rolling his eyes, "There's a protoform coming down north of here and we need to talk to him before the Decepticons get to him."

Alex blinked, "In American please?"

"A robot is falling from space and is going to land in Las Vegas. We need to beat the bad guys to him," Jak repeated.

"Oh… Right…" Alex nodded before pausing for a beat, "Las Vegas?"

"Around there," Jak shrugged, "Pulse is the one who knows about this sort of thing, ask him for more precise stuff."

"So I'm just going to hop in you and we drive off?" Alex asked.

Jak hesitated, "I'd like to take you, but Crossfire thinks you'd be best off with Reaper. Safer."

"The great conversationalist?" Alex frowned.

"He's cool, really good listener," Jak nodded.

"I'll poor my heart out to him," Alex sighed, looking over to where Reaper was now standing on his own, arms folded across his chest, looking much like an abstract statue.

"Lol," Jak snorted quietly, lights flashing on briefly.

Alex stared at him, "Did you just say lol? Chat speak lol?"

"I pick things up off the Interwebs," he shrugged casually.

"Interwebs?" Alex blinked, once again confused by Jak's speech.

"Yeah. I can say cool stuff, like you guys, right? Anyways, who knows, Reaper might speak to you, get going," Jak nudged him gently before turning away and moved over to where the others were already reforming into their various vehicles, obviously getting ready to move out.

Alex hesitated slightly before making his way over to where Reaper was twisting the last of his blades into place, once again looking like the classic dark grey Black Hawk.

He was just about to hover around uncertainly, eyeing up the large helicopter warily, having never been in one before, when the side door slid open, allowing him access to the interior. Alex supposed that meant get in, yet he still faltered. It was sure going to be hard to understand the body language of a helicopter.

"Yo, Alex, get in," Jak yelled at him from the other side of the hanger, "He won't eat you."

Alex grunted quietly and clambered into the chopper quickly, now unable to stop wondering what the Autobots, if they did at all. They weren't exactly living and breathing, just living. And for Alex, to whom human biology was still a mystery, these aliens were totally mind-boggling.

The door slid shut behind him, sealing him inside the rather roomy middle part of the Black Hawk, and after a quick look around, he squeezed through into the smaller cockpit and eased himself into one of the seats, beginning to buckle himself in. All around him were small flashing lights, switches, levers and buttons, many of which had no instructions beside them. Alex felt very glad that he didn't have to fly the chopper himself as he realised he'd have no idea where to begin if he was suddenly thrust into one and told to fly for his life. He also realised that these vehicles were highly realistic and were entirely functional, so much so that he supposed they could quite easily blend into daily life and be undiscovered. Drag had been posing as his brother's car after all. Maybe all vehicles in the world were aliens? Alex wasn't sure if he liked that idea or not; it was slightly creepy to think you might be driving around in something that wasn't the nice little Toyota Aygo that you recently purchased, instead it being some huge alien robot that might kill you at any moment.

Alex gave an involuntary shiver and tried to relax as much as he could as he felt Reaper lurch suddenly before he began to slowly move after the others as they filed out of the hanger.

"Uh…" he cleared his throat anxiously, "Just in case… You don't happen to carry any airsickness bags in here do you?" he asked, looking around him for any sign of an answer.

There was a pause before Alex noticed a little screen in front of him had the single word 'Negative' flashing on it repeatedly.

"Oh, great," he muttered, "If I hurl, you're getting it all over your pretty flashy lights."

The word on the screen changed fairly quickly, being replaced by 'Don't you dare'.

Alex snorted slightly in amusement, relaxing considerably, "So you do communicate in some fashion?"

'In some fashion,' Reaper's screen flashed up, echoing Alex in agreement.

"At least this flight won't be totally boring then," Alex sighed.

'So long as you don't throw up,' the screen blinked at him again.

"I'll try my best, just for you," Alex patted a random patch of flashing lights, then realised how weird that might be for the Autobot; being patted from the inside. He cringed slightly and pulled his hand away, quickly shoving them in his lap so that he wasn't tempted to touch anything again, turning his attention to what was happening out in front of them, where the others had come to a halt just before the track started which would lead them to the road, obviously waiting for something.

Alex looked around expectantly, but he only just realised what when he heard the sound of an engine starting up and a brief glance upwards told him that the chopper blades had began to rotate. He supposed the others would wait for Reaper to be up in the air first so that he could follow them above the roads. Although the helicopter would be quicker, it seemed they'd stick together, in case anything happened and either they or Reaper were intercepted.

Unconsciously, Alex clenched his hands into fist, watching as the stick thing to his left, the collective, began to raise, and left pedal by his foot appeared to be under some force, it slowly being pressed downwards. The other stick thing (Alex knew nothing about the workings of a helicopter so everything was just a flashy light or a stick), the cyclic, moved in front of him ever so slightly as he felt the chopper slowly lifting off the ground. He also felt his stomach lurch involuntarily, and he quickly closed his eyes, praying it got better; otherwise he'd have an angry robot alien chasing after him for dirtying his insides. Whichever insides the cockpit may be for Reaper.

Alex's stomach lurched again, and this time not because of the sensation of flying. He really needed to stop over thinking things. He was sure Jak would enlighten him sometime about the ins and outs of -. Ok. He was stopping now.

He opened his eyes and quickly had to shove a hand over his mouth as he looked down at the desert below them, not realising they were so high up. His attention was diverted from the scenery in front of them once again by the flashing panel and he looked down, glad to pretend they weren't flying.

'The best bit is still to come,' it read.

"What? The landing?" Alex shifted uncomfortably.

'No.'

Although it was just one word, Alex could have sworn there was a smug undertone there somewhere, and he suddenly dreaded what might come. He swallowed loudly, "Oh? No?" he tried to sound casual.

'Just wait.'

"Oh, I'm eagerly awaiting what you have in store for me," Alex gave a nervous laugh, running a hand over his face in exasperation, telling himself to just sit back and relax. If they were south of Las Vegas in the southern tip of Nevada, they'd no doubt take the ninety-five north, straight to the centre of town, then go from there. He guessed they were around Searchlight area, so that might take the Autobots below about forty minutes to get there. Reaper would easily get their faster, but if he stayed above them at all times, then Alex would just have to endure forty minutes of stomach churning hell. With a side order of Reaper fun, whatever that may be.

Directly below them, Crossfire at the head, the other Autobots began to file their way along the dirt track, heading for the main road, maintaining perfect gaps between them as they drove at the exact same speed, heading for the bright lights of Las Vegas and wherever the protoform had had the misfortune of landing.


	7. Checking in at the Bellagio

Already feeling absolutely exhausted, Bill now couldn't help but wish she'd just stayed at home and tucked herself into bed rather than trail after Alex.

The eleven hour drive through the middle of nowhere had worn her down considerably, since she'd constantly had to be on her guard to make sure that whoever was with Alex wouldn't notice her following them, since she and they appeared to be the only cars in the vicinity. However, one minute she'd been following the Ram and Mustang, then the next thing she knew, they'd disappeared completely, having been swallowed up in the vast desert expanse. Frustrated and tired she'd just pulled over on the side of the road, and had grabbed her phone to try to get into contact with Alex, however every time she dialled his number, she just got an automated voice telling her he was unavailable.

Unsure where Alex had gone, if she'd lost him, or the cars had just vanished, Bill decided that she'd try to get at least a little rest, even if it meant doing so on the side of the road. She was hardly in the right frame of mind to drive eight hours back to Amarillo. It would be a little rich had she previously yelled at Alex for drunk driving if she came off the road having fallen asleep at the wheel.

However, she'd just been about to rest her forehead on the steering wheel when she noticed something in the distance to her right. At first she thought it was a dust devil, dust swirling around, but she soon realised it was a helicopter, slowly rising into the sky. She watched it closely, squinting slightly as she took in it. She wasn't knowledgeable in the field of armed warfare, but it seemed to her that the chopper was loaded with charged rounds. If it was taking off from a nearby air force base, it must be going somewhere with intent of causing some destruction.

Again, Bill was about to dismiss it and shut her eyes, but this time she noticed another dust cloud, this time getting closer to her rather than going upwards. She pushed a few stray strands of hair from her face and rubbed her eyes, both due to fatigue and disbelief, as she watched a fire truck off all things, ploughing through the desert. Then out of the dust as she watched other vehicles emerge behind it; an ambulance, the Ram and Mustang from earlier, and was that an Aston Martin too? If Alex was still in the Mustang, there was no doubt he'd probably be having something close to a heart attack having been in contact with not only his brother's DBS but this one too.

She watched in increasing confusion and awe as the chopper moved over them, adopting a speed that kept it exactly above them while the vehicles below it moved with a precision on the road that Bill knew most drivers didn't have.

Was Alex still with them? She continued to squint and strain her eyes, but she couldn't make anything out, no matter how hard she tried. She'd just have follow them again.

Alex had better be grateful she was stalking him like this.

With a loud sigh Bill started the engine up again, running a hand over her face as she did so, telling herself to wake up and that they'd hopefully come to a stop soon enough. If they didn't, Bill didn't honestly think she could drive for much longer, and she knew she'd have to give up and concede defeat, having to resort back to just hoping Alex would be ok.

She was sure he was old enough by now to look after himself, but she had a little niggling feeling at the back of her mind, telling her that something wasn't quite right. Maybe it was the armed helicopter flying above the Mustang Alex had previously been in, or maybe it was something else. She couldn't quite be sure. But all the same, she carefully pulled back onto the road, settling herself into driving, her eyes focused on the disappearing vehicles in the distance, the sun glinting off the backside of the Aston Martin like a beacon, of help or warning, she wouldn't know until she caught up with them.

Half an hour into flying, Alex was already contemplating selling his soul for a stomach of iron that wouldn't roll around quite as much as his current one was. Or at least a sick bag.

Reaper's idea of fun was Alex's idea of hell.

He didn't even know helicopters could do half the things Reaper insisted on doing, let alone how they didn't plummet out of the sky each time he executed some ridiculous move. In a way, Reaper was just like an airborne, silent Jak, but at least Jak couldn't do a barrel roll, making it look like Alex was suspended above deadly rotating blades of death.

Alex couldn't even just concentrate on anything else, since every time he tried to look in a various direction, Reaper would lurch this way and that to unnerve him. Even asking him to stop didn't have much of an effect. All the Autobot replied with was something pertaining to it doing him some good to toughen up. But seriously, why did Alex need to be thrown all over the sky in order to 'toughen up'? He was going to see if Crossfire would have a word with Reaper about dangerous flying, and here he was, thinking these guys were _nice_ to humans.

Five minutes had passed since the last time Reaper had done something insanely stupid, so Alex allowed himself to relax a little and focus on the sprawling desert town appearing on the horizon. He could make out a large area covered with houses and various other commercial buildings, and as they edged closer, the distinctive profile of the world famous Strip began to take shape. He could see the needle like Stratosphere at one end, and the Luxor pyramid at the other, as they approached at a slightly eastern angle, the road stretching south to north. He spotted a few helicopters hovering over the city, as well as planes taking off and waiting to land at McCarran airport, and he wondered how Reaper was able to get into this airspace without any trouble. From what he'd seen, this chopper was fully armed and loaded.

Alex supposed NEST may have made a few arrangements with, well, everywhere. He was just about to let his gaze wander with a passing chopper when a small beep drew his attention to Reaper's screen.

'Can you see where the protoform fell?'

"What am I looking for exactly?" Alex frowned.

'A giant plume of smoke. It's not hard to miss.'

"Well I hardly know, do I?" Alex grumbled, beginning to scan the horizon, looking this way and that. After a little while, he shook his head, "Can't see it."

There was a little pause before Reaper responded, 'Centre of Las Vegas Boulevard.'

"The Strip?" Alex leant forward in his seat, shielding his eyes slightly as he ran his eyes slowly down the Strip, "You mean… You mean that cloud of smoke isn't just some fancy Las Vegas stunt? One of you has just crashed landed in the middle of the Strip?"

'Apparently so.'

"You guys are messy. What happened to being undercover and subtle?" Alex ran a hand over his face.

'Things happen.'

"Like Paris?"

'Like that. I'm going to land at the airport. Traction will pick you up from the side of the road below the Mandalay Bay hotel. You will join him and the others while I keep watch. Don't leave their sight.'

Alex had to read rapidly as the words flashed across the screen, almost too fast for him to follow, "This is not going to work. There's going to be a random naked robot there right, he doesn't have a vehicle form? How will you talk to it and convince it to come away with you in public?"

'If the protoform has any sense it will have adopted its vehicle form as soon as it could have. Hopefully it's just waiting. It may be shaken. We'll recognise it easily, and it us, so it'll follow. As for the destruction, Crossfire and Pulse have found that their vehicles come in helpful for such occasions.'

"Slow down with the writing," Alex grunted, "But yeah, I sort of see your point."

'We're going down now, so hold on. Once we land, get out and get to Traction, he'll be visible.'

"Do you have physic links or something?" Alex frowned.

'Technology. Internal communication devices.'

Alex shrugged, "Fair enough. Stupid human, remember?"

Reaper's response was the suddenly feeling of falling and Alex looked away from the screen just in time to watch them begin to plummet back down to earth. Maybe plummet wasn't the word, since it was a controlled decent, but to Alex, the ground looked like it was rushing up to meet him too quickly for his liking. He just closed his eyes tightly and tensed his stomach, praying that he'd be ok.

Eventually he felt the landing skids come in contact with the ground, causing Reaper to rock slightly and Alex to whimper, but once they'd come to a definite stop, he cracked his eyes open, catching sight of the screen which now only had the word 'Go,' on it.

Alex hesitated slightly but quickly unbuckled his harness, letting Reaper open the door for him as he did so. He then jumped out of the door, feeling the heat hit him in the face, just as if he'd opened an oven door, and he looked around quickly, ignoring the roaring of planes and other helicopters all around him.

He soon spotted Traction, as Reaper had said, waiting by the fence over to one side, which was part of Las Vegas Boulevard, yet was devoid of hotels for the moment. He quickly began to hurry in that direction, trying not to look like he was running in case people thought he was a little odd, or may have something to do with the explosion just down Strip.

Alex hurried through a gap in the fence, unsure if it was an exit or just a torn part of it, but either way, he did his best to look as casual as possible as he squeezed through, before darting over to the Ram. He yanked open the driver's door and jumped in, barely having enough time to pull his seatbelt on before Traction was off, slipping in with the traffic which was extremely dense, obviously due to the incident on the Strip. Alex looked around them, unable to see Jak or any of the others, so he supposed they'd just gone up ahead without Traction.

"Are you ok?" Traction asked eventually, his voice sounding like it was coming out of the speakers around Alex.

"Uh, yeah, sort of," Alex shrugged, "Don't like flying."

"Good," Traction responded briefly, obviously concentrating on the task at hand.

Alex fell silent, looking out the window with a sigh. Normally he'd be bouncing all over the place if a Vegas trip had come up, however the place looked like it was spiralling into chaos. People running around, yelling, people taking pictures. Many people were trying to turn their cars around wherever possible to get off the Strip, causing nose-to-tail and nose-to-nose traffic that was inching along slowly. The smoke from the crashed protoform looked more devastating on the ground, and as they slowly crept along the Strip, closer to police barricades, Alex could see the full extent of the damage.

The protoform appeared to have come from the southeast, and had managed to gouge a hole in the top of the Planet Hollywood. That hadn't caused too much damage, however it had then travelled onwards, straight into Las Vegas' Eiffel Tower replica. Apparently these alien robots liked destroying Paris. The top of the Tower had come crashing down across the Strip on top of a fair number of cars, its tip coming to rest between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio. Thrown off a little by the impacts, the protoform had apparently then crashed finally into the lake in front of the Bellagio, once home to the dancing fountains, now home to a large amount of rumble and leaking water mains. Scorch marks and chunks of asphalt showed how close it had come to ploughing into the lobby of the Bellagio, which would have undoubtedly killed a large number of gamblers and holidaymakers. As it was, Alex supposed a good number of people would have been injured by falling debris; others trapped or crushed in cars, or caught up in crumbling buildings.

For aliens that said they protected humans, the damage this one had succeeded in causing, coupled with the incident in France, suggested that while their hearts, or whatever they had in its place, were in it, they just didn't seem to be good at it.

Eventually Traction pulled up beside a few police vehicles, allowing Alex to get a better look at the scene. He supposed Crossfire and Pulse were there somewhere, but he admitted that he couldn't distinguish between them and the other various fire trucks and ambulances darting between smouldering cars.

"Where are they?" Alex muttered to Traction, "I can't see them at all. What about -?"

Someone rapping on the window cut him off, causing him to jump in shock. He scrambled around for the switch to lower the window, though had to rely on Traction doing it for him eventually, and found himself face to face with a rather irritated looking cop.

"Yes?" Alex put on his best innocent expression, looking confused, yet shocked at the same time.

"Sir, you have stopped your car in the most awkward of places. If you hadn't noticed, half of Las Vegas is currently falling apart due to a stray meteor. So if you could please turn around and move on, it would be much appreciated," the man folded his arms.

"I… Uh. I…" Alex faltered when suddenly the Ram made a loud spluttering noise, the engine beginning to whine loudly, "My… My engine's gone. Sorry. I might be out of gas, at least I hope it's that."

"Sir, this is not helpful," the cop looked less than pleased.

"I can hardly help it, officer," Alex gave a little shrug, "If you're willing to move my vehicle or maybe take a look under the hood, go ahead. But as of now it's not going anywhere. It might be fine in a minute, I don't know. So for now I'm staying in the safety of my car."

The policeman surveyed him with a look of disgust, allowing Alex to casually turn his attention to the scene behind him, where the police and firemen were running around wildly to cut people from their cars. He was just about to look back to the man staring at him when he suddenly caught sight of movement behind one of the teetering legs of the Eiffel Tower, just to the right of him. He blinked a few times then shook his head, unable to believe that he could just about make out Drag and another taller Autobot that he didn't recognise, both in their natural states, casually slipping away from the carnage.

"Why are you shaking your head like that, sir? Did I say something you didn't like? The prospect of jail time maybe?" the cop leant into his field of vision, blocking out the two robots.

"Uh, what?" Alex snapped out of his daze and focused on the cop again, "Jail time? What no! I was just thinking about something, don't worry about -," he was cut off by Traction's engine roaring loudly, quickly easing back into the normal loud hum. Alex guessed he'd seen Drag and the other one too, or been told to move, "Oh, would you look at that, my truck's just fine!" with that, Alex casually hit a random switch on the dash, making it look like he'd just activated the window as it slid back up, blocking out the police officer.

"I advise you get out of here quick, Tract," Alex muttered as he watched the man's face stiffen as Alex disappeared behind the tinted window.

"On it," Traction responded, backing up slightly before doing such a tight turn that Alex swore a normal Ram would never be able to do it, "Drag's with the protoform, Jak's making his way to meet them right now, Crossfire and Pulse are a little caught up right now. We're to get the protoform out of town a little way, just out of the havoc and main eye, and wait. Reaper is keeping an eye out for Spectre in the sky, as well as any other Decepticons on the ground when he can," he gave a quick overview.

"Little too easy maybe?" Alex dared muttered.

"Hmm," Traction murmured in response, obviously agreeing with him, "Just hope nothing goes wrong while Crossfire and Pulse are caught up."

"I'm hoping alright," Alex nodded and glanced over his shoulder as Traction managed to slip into a stream of traffic heading back away from the destruction, back the way they'd come, "Though it's so obvious that something bad is going to happen now. I read books and watch films where people talk like this and then, kapow, everyone's dead. That's the end of that."

"Thank you for that Alex," Traction muttered as he manoeuvred his way through the traffic, horns blaring all about them, people yelling abuse and screaming too.

Alex just shrugged and sat back in his seat, falling silent as he looked around them; glad Traction was the one struggling through the mayhem and madness, not him. He kept looking around for the others, but in all the time they were stuck in traffic, he didn't catch even the smallest glimpse of them. He saw a few Mustangs that were similar to Jak, but none of them had the unique black racing stripes that he wore. He couldn't even see Reaper in the sky, but he supposed that he had to keep going round in circles to keep an eye on them all.

Eventually they managed to pull free of the majority of the traffic, speeding up a little as Traction began to weave his way though the traffic, slowly leaving Strip behind them as they carried on south down Las Vegas Boulevard, passing the airport and following shopping centres.

Alex kept his eyes peeled for any of the Autobots, but he still couldn't see them, and though he hated to admit it, he was getting a little worried. It wasn't that he didn't like being left with Traction; it was just that he was concerned if they ran into trouble what might happen to them without one of their team, since he was busy ferrying a human around.

He was just about to mention something to Traction when he heard a high pitch whine of a sports car engine coming from in front of them, and Alex glimpsed an orange Lamborghini Gallardo speeding towards them. Fastest car in the world, if Alex remembered correctly. Attractive low-rider too, even though impractical. It also looked like it was breaking the speed limit something stupid. As Alex was slowly processing this useless information, it had also swerved across onto the wrong side of the road, now heading straight for them.

There was a moments pause before Traction flung on his breaks, swinging open his driver's door, "Get out now Alex!" he yelled, not even waiting for Alex to try before flinging him out onto the road, seatbelt snapping.

Alex hit the ground hard and grunted loudly in pain, rolling part the way across the three-lane highway, only just being narrowly missed by a passing car. As he rolled, he was just about able to make out Traction and the Lamborghini suddenly both rapidly unfold, far faster than he'd seen any of the Autobots do, before they crashed violently into each other, blurring into a mass of screeching metal.

Alex yelled something intelligible as he came to a halt, clothes a little torn, grazes and scratches littering his arms, and looked up to find the robots engaging in a violent fistfight above him. He just knew something bad would happen!

Traction was far larger than the other, smaller Lamborghini, and was grabbing various parts of it, pulling on them violently, "Decepticon scum," he snarled, sounding far more vicious than Alex would have thought the laidback Autobot could ever be. The opposing Decepticon just growled back loudly, attempting to grab Traction around the throat, however was too late as Traction flung him to the ground and stamped on his chest. It tried to get up, small gun like contraptions replacing both hands, and it didn't wasting any time in firing them at the Autobot, bullets ricocheting off metal all over the place.

Alex cried out again as gunfire sounded all around him and he tried to crawl away from, doing his best to avoid the Lamborghini's flailing limbs and flying shrapnel.

He couldn't believe this was happening, right here, just outside of the Strip on a main highway. Subtlety? What freaking subtlety? These aliens seriously needed their dictionaries updated. They were having a damn bitch fest, right above his head. Alex could almost imagine the sounds of metal hitting metal as the two giant robots slapping each other. He half wished that he could just yell at them to cut it out, but he'd most likely just be trampled into the ground, and it was probably he best keep out of the way in case the Decepticon saw him.

He peered around a car he'd found to use as shelter, watching as Traction continued to pummel the surprisingly tough little robot while spitting vile abuse at him, ignoring the other's screeching.

Alex told himself that it was better the Decepticon died than got to him and got him killed instead.


	8. Rumbled

Sorry this chapter is so long . I never write my things in chapters, so when I go through it like this and take chunks out to become them, they get long and don't really work as sections. Fail on my part ;D

And I'd love a review or two guys, even if its telling me my characters and writing suck so bad you never want to see another word of it :P

* * *

"Hey Alex!" Alex twitched slightly as he looked to one side where he caught sight of Jak skid to a halt next to him and open his door, "Get in. Tract will be fine, he'll finish Burnout off in a minute. We need to get you to the others and get out of this dump. Reaper's spotted Spectre and has gone after him," he explained quickly.

Alex glanced over his shoulder briefly at Traction before throwing himself into Jak's open door, clambering into the seat at the door shut sealing him in to air-conditioned safety.

"What about the mess?" Alex gasped as Jak shot forward, speeding away from the two brawling robots and the mass of cars piled up around them, "The people?"

"They'll all be treated for mild carbon monoxide poisoning and other dangerous gases that cause hallucinogenic effects, which were released when the hotels exploded," he said casually, "Hey, sit in your seat properly," he added as Alex turned around in the drivers seat to watch Traction out the rear window.

"Huh, sorry," Alex sat down quickly, "People buy that stuff?"

"I'm sure you would if it meant forgetting you ever saw us?" Jak swung off the main highway onto a minor road.

"Probably yeah, actually. I'm not hallucinating though, am I?" he frowned.

"You're in a car, which is driving itself. You'd have to be a in a coma to pull that off. But from what I've heard, you could probably drink yourself into one, so if you want, you could pretend you're in one?" Jak suggested.

"I'd rather not," Alex muttered, "Alien robots over possible coma death, I think."

"Good choice," the Mustang praised him, casually causing the volume of his music to crank up slowly, "Glad to hear you've changed your tune slightly since you met Drag."

"Oh yeah, I think this kind of stuff opens your eyes a fair bit," Alex sighed loudly, looking out the window blankly as they sped past houses.

Jak made a quiet humming noise in agreement, once again turning down another road, "Not long now," he commented.

Alex nodded absently in response, running a hand through his hair as he watched the houses speeding past begin to thin out, the area becoming more open as it blended out into the desert. He rubbed his eyes, twisting around in his seat to look behind him in hope of seeing Traction, Crossfire or Pulse, indicating they were ok. But he couldn't see anyone, and even when he looked up, the sky was still devoid of Reaper. But at least everywhere else looked clear of Decepticons. He supposed that was something good at least.

"They're not here," Jak offered, "Tract's made a mess and has got a little caught up, while Crossfire and Pulse are trapped by wreckage and can't move in front of all the humans. Reaper's just as silent as always, not even relaying any information. Supposing he's giving Spectre a good ass kicking."

"A little caught up?" Alex frowned.

"Yeah, nothing he can't get out of. Some over zealous humans, namely police, are trying to catch him," Jak replied casually.

Alex stared at the dash, mainly because he didn't know where else to look, "Traction's been caught?"

"He'll get free," Jak sounded entirely convinced.

"He just wrecked a street."

"We have the government on our side."

"Only NEST."

"We are giant robots, as you like to point out," Jak still didn't sound fazed.

"We are rather stubborn humans. Jak, has he been caught before?" Alex ran a hand through his hair.

"No, but he's Tract. He's hot damned awesome," he added.

"But that's not federal immunity!" Alex shook his head, "I want to talk to Crossfire."

"We have a human concerned about our safety? Makes a change," Jak snorted, "You can talk to him once we reach Drag and the noob."

"Newbie. Not noob. Wrong context," Alex rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean noob. Apparently he's not exactly as… Experienced as us. Drag's been whining at me about it, complaining we're stuck with a rookie."

"Well he did crash into the middle of Vegas," Alex muttered.

"We were hoping his navigation systems shorted out, but apparently not. He's just a failsome navigator."

"Really failsome," Alex emphasised, "I want to know Traction's ok."

"Ok, ok, in a minute," Jak sighed loudly and dramatically, "I know you love him but you can spend five minutes away from him."

Alex grunted in irritation and slapped the dash in front of him, "Be quiet, robot car."

Jak snorted loudly in amusement again before dissolving into quiet laughter. Alex just rolled his eyes and folded his arms, shuffling himself in the driver's chair as he now turned his attention looking back in front of them.

He was just about to ask Jak if they were there yet, when he caught sight of Drag and a blindly bright yellow car parked nearly on a pull out by the side of the road.

As Jak pulled off the road and made his way up to them, Alex couldn't help but wonder if it was healthy to keep biting back sarcastic comments regarding what subtly was. What was with these robots?

"Get out Al, go say hi to the new kid," Jak swung his door open.

"Do I have to? Isn't that wasting time?" Alex frowned.

"Alex, just do it, just let him know that you're not a human or Decepticon who's going to tear him apart. You're Fusion boy, let him eye you up," Jak waved his door around.

Alex rolled his eyes, "You're too… something. You know that? It's not normal. At least Traction is friendly with a hint of profession. You, you're just…"

"Laid back? Cool, smooth?" Jak bounced around a little, "Curse, I know."

Alex rolled his eyes yet again and sighed, slipping from the Mustang into the heat. He glanced around, briefly taking in a few sparse, rather rugged looking houses dotted around the desert landscape, but otherwise they appeared to be alone. He then turned his attention to Drag and the new… guy. Drag briefly flashed his blinkers in greeting, Alex supposing that was the friendliest he could do.

Now up close, Alex could see that the yellow car was a Jeep Wrangler, the kind that had virtually no roof and very little protection apart from a few doors, making it look a little naked. However, the paintwork looked pretty much brand spanking new, much like all the other Autobots (despite all the fighting they apparently got into, which made no sense to Alex), so didn't look exactly suited for off road activities. Alex wandered closer as he eyed the Jeep up, though jumped slightly when it suddenly buckled in the middle and began to change form.

From what Alex had gathered, those apart from Jak, seemed to prefer talking out loud when in their natural state. He supposed Jak was different because he couldn't actually return to his humanoid form, hence why he was so out spoken. He was just making up for his loss.

Alex was forced to take a little step back as the Jeep in front of him eventually completed its transformation, it having been a little more untidy than the others, a few times parts flinging out or getting stuck.

"Wow… So this is a human…?" the Jeep was a little taller than Drag normally was, around sixteen feet was Alex's guess, but it still crouched down to get a look at Alex, its blue-green eyes peering at him with pure curiosity. It once again seemed to be male, though its voice sounded younger, more like an older teen, than the others. Alex had no idea what ages the others were, but he supposed thousands of years was most likely a young age, since they appeared to be relatively immune to time.

He took another defensive step back as the Jeep reached out a hand, uncurling a finger to try and prod him.

"Ah ah," Jak cut in quickly, "No touchy the human. They're fragile, remember."

"Opps, sorry," the finger close to Alex's face dropped quickly and the robot gave an apologetic and slightly sheepish smile, "Wouldn't want to accidentally take his head off."

"No," Alex muttered faintly, wondering if he was safe being so close to the new guy, "We wouldn't."

The Jeep cocked its head on one side, "I'm Freeway. It's an honour to meet you."

"Honour?" Alex blinked but quickly just ignored it, "I'm Alex. I suppose you know why I'm with you guys?"

"Of course," he nodded, "It's fascinating. To think that a life form such as yourself could carry Fusion in your blood. Your tiny little blood vessel," Freeway tried to touch Alex again.

"Hey you," Jak revved his engine, "Obey orders. No. Touchy. Not against his will, at least. I'm sure he'll ride in you sometime eventually."

"Sorry," Freeway hung his head in shame.

Alex hesitated slightly, "It's ok," he shrugged, faltering slightly before reaching out and cautiously touching the Autobot's hand, "I'm pretty tough."

"Oh sure, you tell that to Pulse. You humans fall off chairs and break necks," Jak flashed his lights in amusement, "Didn't you once -?"

"Don't start," Alex grunted, absently rubbing his shoulder, "Don't even mention it."

"Ok, ok, I'm quiet," Jak sighed loudly and dramatically.

Freeway was glancing between Jak and Alex in interest, obviously intrigued by their exchange, though he still held his hand out in case Alex might touch him again.

"Ok, right, is this meeting is over?" Alex glanced at Jak again, "We can go see if Traction's ok?"

"He's still caught up," Jak admitted, "But I swear Al, he'll be fine. He's cool."

Alex rolled his eyes, turning his attention to the silent Aston Martin, "Hey Drag, you want to take me to where Traction is?"

There was a fairly long pause, filled only with silence, until Drag finally opened his driver's door.

"Thank you," Alex started towards him, only to suddenly have to jump back as Jak swerved in front of him, his open door replacing Drags.

"Ok, ok, I'll take you to him, you manipulative human," Jak flashed his lights to show he was rolling his eyes, "Just get in. If we get yelled at because we went back, it's your entire fault, understand? Man, I'm not having my ass handed to me by Crossfire if he doesn't like us doing this.

"You'll be thanking me when we save Tractions ass from being handed to him by the cops," Alex smiled mockingly at Jak as he slid into the drivers seat, letting him shut the door.

"Oh, someone's getting cocky now, ain't they, Earth boy?" Jak gave a quiet laugh, "But I admit, I like it. A little banter is good now and then."

"Who said it's mere banter?" Alex couldn't help but smiled, slapping Jak's dash as he pulled his seatbelt on.

"I hope it is, because I would own your butt big time if it came to a fight, y'know?" he pulled away from Drag, heading back for the road as Freeway began to fold back in on himself. As they set off down the road, heading exactly back the way they came, Freeway and Drag slipped into perfect formation behind them. Drag drove with silent precision, however Freeway occasionally juddered slightly, occasionally veering towards the other side of the road.

Alex watched this in Jak's rear-view mirror, amused to see the apparently rather graceful Autobots seemed to have a klutz on their hands.

"I know what you're thinking. I'm good at reading humans," Jak spoke up lazily, "We're just like you, we have all sorts of personalities. You've got Drag, stuck up and snooty. Me, cool and kooky. Traction, focused yet relaxed. And then this kid. Freeway, fresh as green grass. We were all like him once. Even me. Though I managed to trip over my own feet in style. He'll settle in once he's been talked to by Crossfire and he gets to know how we, and Earth, works. Learning on the job, see?"

"So long as he doesn't crash first," Alex glanced over his shoulder, watching as Drag suddenly had to slam on his brakes and swerve to one side, Freeway having stalled slightly and juddered to a halt right in front of him.

"Oh, Draggy's gonna be pissed now," Jak sounded distinctly amused.

"I'd rather not watch," Alex turned his attention back to the Strip once again drawing nearer and began to scan the area. He'd been hoping he wouldn't be able to see anything, it looking like nothing had happened apart from an alien crashing into some of the hotels, however just south of the Strip, there was a large area, full of blue and red flashing lights, as well as a few large black vans.

"These NEST guys," Alex leant forward in his seat slightly, "How much authority do they have?"

"A very large amount, I think," Jak sounded a little unsure.

"Do they influence the cops and special ops teams?" Alex frowned.

There was a pause of silence, which, coming from Jak, was enough of an answer, "Well…"

"They don't, do they?" Alex slumped back in the chair.

"NEST can hardly tell everyone that if they saw an Autobot just to pretend it's nothing. Not everyone knows about us remember, some people are left in the dark."

"Jak… I know it might come to nothing, but right now, Traction's just been trapped by armed men," Alex muttered, "I know we're small in comparison, but the right weapons might severely damage him."

Jak hesitated again, "He's good with guns though."

"He won't use them against humans. You wouldn't. Drag wouldn't. I bet Freeway wouldn't either. I may not have known you long, but you guys are predictable. Traction's only option is to not put up a fight, but we humans might still panic and use force against him," Alex shook his head.

Jak sighed quietly, for the first time since Alex had met it, falling silent, not knowing what to say.

They continued to edge closer to the blinding lights, there now a great volume of people gathered around, many of who were using both digital and video cameras to try and catch a better shot of the action unfolding behind the barrier consisting of many vehicles.

Alex winced internally; unable to believe this was happening. He wanted to blame it on himself, for ever forcing the Autobots to look after him, but he couldn't help but remember that they came to Vegas for Freeway. But then again, maybe the Decepticon, Burnout, that had attacked them, may have been going for him rather than the new Autobot, therefore making it his fault. But they wouldn't have been in Vegas had Freeway not fallen here.

There were just too many sides to this coin, and so Alex let the internal debate drop for now, deciding that he'd work out if he was to blame afterTraction was free and they were on their way.

"Man, you're right, this ain't pretty. I've seen way worse, but still. It's not fair," Jak muttered as he came to a halt, Freeway and Drag eventually stopping beside him.

Alex nodded absently and unbuckled his seatbelt, opening the door, "I'm going to get a closer look, see if I can get near him."

"Ok. Just be careful and on your guard," Jak sounded a little reluctant to let him go.

"I'll be fine," he reassured him, slipping out of the Mustang after a quick glance around. Shutting the door behind him, he then shoved his hands in his pockets and casually sauntered towards the mass of people swarming towards the police and where Traction must be hidden.

Alex was rather glad he was fairly tall, his height allowing him to see over the majority of people, and he was occasionally able to catch a glimpse of a large crumpled pile of mechanical parts, the occasional orange car part here and there. Apparently that was once Burnout. Now he was strewn all over the place. Traction obviously was very thorough when it came to destroying the Autobot's enemies.

Alex was beginning to have to elbow his way through the large crowd, ignoring people yelling and cursing at him for pushing through, occasionally ducking slightly to squeeze through small gaps as he made his way to the police barrier. There were a few vans and cars acting as a barricade, while some policemen were warding off over enthusiastic public members who were trying to push through them.

Alex avoided the police as best he could, skirting around the cars and peering through a gap between two black vans.

He could just about make out Traction now, his large form crumpled on the ground. It looked like somehow the police and special ops team had managed to pin him to the ground, using thick heavy metal ropes. He was surrounded by a good number of men with dangerous looking guns, however the Autobot was showing no sign of putting up a fight, currently just laying still. Alex could see him blinking every now and then as he looked around him a little anxiously, obviously disliking giving up so easily, but the desire not to hurt humans overriding his fear.

Alex wanted to jump up and down, wave at him, or do something that would alert Traction to his presence, but he didn't know what he could do without also letting the police know he was there. If he pushed through the ranks and ran up to Traction, he might be able to try and negotiate, but he'd more than likely just get himself shot and killed. He mused quietly to himself, occasionally scratching his neck or running a hand through his hair as he thought, until he eventually decided he'd better just go for it. Traction had already proved he was ready to sacrifice himself for Alex, both with Burnout and now this.

He was just about to dart between the two van's he'd been looking at when he suddenly felt someone behind him grab him by the collar and yank him forcefully back. Alex turned, fists up, ready for a cop to question him and for Alex to give him a rude response, however he froze, hands dropping to his sides when he saw who it was.

Bill was staring at him, eyes both questioning and suspicious.

"What… What the hell are you doing here?" Alex asked eventually, glancing over his shoulder ever so quickly to check on things behind him.

"Making sure you're not getting yourself into trouble. Which it looked like you were just about to do," Bill folded her arms, "What's going on here? Why are you in Las Vegas? Why all the police and the explosion on the Strip?"

"I… I don't know. I was just passing through and thought I'd take a closer look," he shrugged, trying to look casual.

"Passing through? As part of an convoy with an armed helicopter?" Bill raised her eyebrows.

Alex stared at her again. How had she known about Reaper and the others? She'd only seen him with Traction and Jak.

"Well Alex?" she prompted.

"I… It doesn't matter. You go home, I'll be fine," he said quickly.

"Alexander Sheppard. I just drove after you for almost eleven hours. I'm not being got rid of that easily without an explanation. Friends are supposed to care, so that's what I'm doing, even if you're not. Explain yourself," she demanded, scowling.

There was a suddenly loud bang behind them followed by a pained grunt that Alex instant recognised as Traction, the sound of metal scraping against asphalt desperately starting up.

Alex looked behind him again and shook his head, "I'll explain later Bill. Do me a favour and stay here. Or make yourself useful; create a diversion. I have to get to what the police are guarding."

"Create a diversion?" she repeated incredulously, "Are you insane? I'm not having the cops after me!"

"I'll do it on my own then," he turned away from her and darted between the two vans supposed to be blocking public access to where Traction was pinned to the highway.

"Alex…!" Bill yelled after him, hesitating for a moment before hurrying after him.

Alex didn't seem to notice her behind him and just strode into the open, wincing as a large number of weapons suddenly turned on him. His stride faltered and his gaze worked its way over all the muzzles pointed at him before falling on Traction. The Autobot's eyes had widened in surprise at the sight of him, but Alex couldn't tell if the surprise was because he was bothering to try and help, or because he was surprised that Jak had been stupid enough to let Alex come back.

"Alex!" Bill caught up with him and grabbed his arm, making to pull him away, however she stopped when she saw Traction in a heap on the ground behind the wall of men, "Oh my God, what is that thing? Is it alive?"

Alex just shot her a little irritated glance, about to defend Traction, however his attention was caught by a man dressed all in black, with a rather large weapon, approaching him. A special ops sergeant by the looks of his badge on his uniform.

"Sir, if you would be kind enough to leave this area," he prompted as he came to a halt in front of Bill and Alex, looking less than impressed, "While not the most protected, I'm sure you can understand that this breach in our national security is something we'd like to keep away from prying eyes. Also, this thing may be dangerous. It's already tried to kill some of my men."

Alex had been contemplating going easy on the guy, but something just rubbed him up the wrong way, "Well excuse me," he stepped closer to the man, ignoring his gun, "But I think you had better know that he, yes, he is a he, is no threat what so ever. Before you go shooting things and taking them down, how about you check with our government and our president? I'm sure they might have a thing or two to say about you taking him down in the middle of a street. He was trying to protect us, not harm us. That orange scrap metal you see all over the place? _That_ thing was trying to kill us. He was stopping it from doing that. Let him go and he'll leave peacefully, easy as that. You can talk to your superiors and tell them to look into the organisation of NEST. Your questions will be silenced then."

The sergeant stared at Alex then scowled, "And who are you to tell me what to do, civilian? Who are you to say you know what this thing is? Are you in league with it? Will we need to take you down too?"

"I don't think I need to answer any of your questions. Let him go," Alex glared at him.

"Alex," Traction rumbled quietly in warning, causing all the men around him to quickly turn their guns back on him.

"It knows your name…" Bill muttered quietly in awe, shaking her head in disbelief.

Alex ignored her again, waving a hand at Traction dismissively, causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation. All around them, the police and other armed men had began to dissipate the crowd that had gathered, increasing the security ten fold now that Alex had got in through their previously poor defences. They tried to get rid of Bill but she was having none of it, snapping at anyone who tried to move her.

"We can't just let it go," the man was talking again, having done his best to ignore the brief exchange between Alex and Traction.

"Well you have to," Alex replied firmly.

"Or what, sir?" he shifted his gun surreptitiously.

"Or I'll just have to break him out myself," Alex narrowed his eyes at the slight threat the gun's movement had carried.

"We can't let you do that, sir."

"Just watch me," Alex suddenly shouldered his way past the armed sergeant, causing Bill to curse and take a step back, half expecting the man to just shoot Alex in the back.

"Sir!" he snapped, following Alex as he made his way towards Traction, raising his gun slightly, "I advise you get away from here before we use deadly force."

"That would look really good on the news wouldn't it?" Alex glared at him over his shoulder.

"This is not about our image, this is about our security! This thing is dangerous!" the man snapped.

"So dangerous that you're all still alive?" Alex shot back as he just pushed his way through the men with guns barring his way from Traction, suddenly seemingly oblivious to the apprehension and fear he'd had previously.

"It may be biding its time!" the man continued to follow him, but he slowed down slightly to keep his distance from Traction.

"He is not a threat!" Alex snapped, going straight over to Traction's head, which was resting on the ground beside his pinned arms. It was a little bit unnerving, standing next to Traction's face when his head came up to Alex's knee and his face was about as long as his whole leg, but compared to guns, it was nothing. He knew Traction wouldn't hurt him. He crouched down beside him, ignoring the look the Autobot was giving him.

"Alex, you shouldn't be doing this," Traction tried to push himself up to look at him better but was unable to pull against his constraints.

"I do. Think we're going to leave you here? Anyway, I think Crossfire and Pulse are still busy, so we're not leaving without them either. Might as well get you while we're at it," Alex muttered quietly to him, watching the men with guns eyeing them both up while trying to ignore Bill staring at him.

"Jak should have known better than to let you put yourself at risk for me," Traction shook his head.

"Traction, listen to me. You're putting your life on the line for me, so I'm only returning the favour. I don't know if it's just a human thing, but live with it. I just shouldered past a load of guys with loaded weapons for you, be honoured," Alex smiled slightly.

"Fine," he sighed, "Did you have a plan at all?"

Alex's smile faltered, "Well… You see… That's where I run into a little bit of a problem…" he admitted.

Traction rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, "Well done."

Alex just shrugged sheepishly, giving him an apologetic smile.

The sergeant in the black uniform was approaching him again, so Alex stood up, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

"Sir, this is the last time I'm asking you to step away from the robot," he warned.

"Or what, you'll shoot me?" Alex raised his eyebrows, "Messy."

"I would ask you not to provoke me, sir," he scowled, "Fingers can slip, accidents can happen."

"And I would ask you not to threaten him," Traction addressed the man for the first time, once again trying to push himself up, "Because while I won't harm you, I will stop you from harming him."

The man faltered slightly, thrown by Traction talking directly at him, "Well… I… If that's a threat…"

"That's not a threat, you moron," Alex snapped, "He just told you he's not going to hurt you."

"And how can I be sure that it's not lying?" the man scowled.

"Because he wouldn't dare hurt a person! If he wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Simple as that," Alex shrugged.

By now there were pretty much no members of the public left watching, the police having run them away, so when Alex looked around a little, he could just about make out Jak, Drag and Freeway to one side, having looked like they'd edged ever so closer.

"I'm getting tired of your fancy ass attitude, sir, so walk away now while you can, before you're arrested and sent to jail," the man raised his gun, "Either that, or I will shoot you in your pretty face."

"Mistake," Traction growled quietly, and the next thing any of them knew was there was a suddenly sound of something cutting through metal and Traction was up on his feet, Drag suddenly at his side in his humanoid form. The blades that slide out over his hands were out, looking rather sharp, Alex noted, and were pointed right at the man threatening Alex with the gun, in a warning.

Bill, who was standing a little way off, had to cover her mouth to suppress a little shriek. She didn't scream. Not even when there seemed to be two huge robots standing dangerously close to Alex.


	9. Lady Along For The Ride

Many of the men around them panicked, not used to being threatened by two giant robots, and opened fire on them, however the shots only ricocheted off both Autobots, showering everyone around them with crushed bullets. Traction bent down slightly and put his hand in front of Alex to protect him, but neither he, nor Drag responded at all to the attack on them, both keeping their defensive stances.

When they realised that both their weapons were ineffective and neither of the Autobots were returning the attack, the men hesitantly ceased fire and lowered their weapons.

"That's it, humans," Drag mirrored them, lowering his blades, his hands going to his sides. Traction straightened up, Alex being revealed with his arms folded, a smug look on his face.

Just then Jak suddenly shot into the scene, sliding to a halt in front of Alex before revving his engine, "I'm so getting in on this action."

Drag made an irritated noise and shook his head, looking away briefly.

"Hey, you gonna try it, bitches?" Jak continued to rev his engine, obviously trying to make up for his lack of intimidating attributes as a talking car.

The men glanced at each other, some raising their guns again, others looking like they really didn't want to be there.

Bill didn't know what to think, to be honest. She was completely thrown. Alex was awful at making friends, hence why she was the only one. Or at least she'd thought. Suddenly he'd befriended huge, giant, armed robots, and he was looking rather pleased with himself for doing so. Trust Alex to get along with things that didn't even come from Earth.

The sergeant who had taken a disliking to Alex was trying his hardest not to look too bothered by a talking Mustang, one twenty-one foot and another fourteen foot robot who were currently in front of him. Eventually he just shook his head and blinked hard, as if that might help, before looking at Alex, deciding that he'd rather deal with someone of his own species. He wasn't cleared for talking to aliens, which these _things_ apparently were.

"Sir, if you could please step away from the things," he tried, forcing himself to keep looking at Alex.

"He's not going nowhere," Jak cut in before Alex could say anything, "You little toy soldiers turn around and walk away. While you're at it, have a chat with your superiors. You might be requiring a debriefing or two."

The sergeant ignored Jak, "Sir?" he prompted Alex.

Alex just shrugged, "You think you can make me step away?" he wandered forward and leant casually on Jak's roof, "These guys don't think you can," he couldn't help but grin, feeling more confident than he'd been for years. Funny what giant robots could instil in a human. Especially when they were on your side.

"Sir," another man appeared at the sergeants side, "There's a message from the General."

He nodded, taking the cell phone the man held out to him, putting it to his ear.

Alex strained to hear one side of the conversation, and he could feel Jak trying to lean on his suspension to get closer too, which was an unusual sensation to say the least.

Eventually the sergeant let the phone drop to his side, the brief, five-minute conversation having drained the colour out of his features.

"Well," the man took a deep breath, it obviously taking a lot for him to say what came next, "On your way then."

All heads around him turned to face him, looks of confusion passing over their faces.

"Just let them go," he muttered, "They're right. They're allowed to be here."

"You what?" Alex asked loudly.

"I was just informed briefly of the situation by the commander of your NEST organisation. We were wrong to open fire. On your way, please, before you draw more attention to yourself," the sergeant muttered.

"You asshole," Jak got there first, "Ass. Hole."

Alex just patted him on the roof before scowling at the sergeant and adding, "Dick."

"I don't know why you're with them, I have no orders not to shoot you," he snapped back.

"Don't even joke about it," Drag warned from behind Alex, flexing his hands casually.

The sergeant swallowed and turned away, walking away before he said something that would get him into some serious trouble.

Alex glanced behind him up at Drag, "Thanks," he nodded in appreciation.

Drag just grunted in response and looked away, pretending to be uninteresting in having a human's gratitude.

"And thank you, Alex," Traction looked down at him, "But we have to go now. Crossfire and Pulse have been waiting for us with Reaper. Needless to say Crossfire is a little disappointed in Jak."

"What? Me? It was Alex's idea!" Jak flashed his blinkers in protest.

"Tell that to Crossfire," Traction rolled his eyes as Drag walked a little way away where he dropping to his knees and twisting back into his Aston Martin guise, before going over to Freeway who was still where he'd been left.

"Hey, Al, since when did your girlfriend get here?" Jak commented as Traction began to move away to join the two others.

"Oh crap, her," Alex swore under his breath, looking over to Bill who was still staring at him, "For the record, she's not my girlfriend," he muttered, hesitating slightly before making his way around Jak, going over to her.

She just blinked at him, not knowing what to say.

Alex gave a nervous laugh, "Crazy that, yeah?"

"You could say that. Since when did you become friends with those things?" she waved a hand at the Autobots in general, "A drunken night out?"

"Not quite," he gave a lame smile, "Down a dark alley, actually."

Bill gave a loud sigh, shaking her head, "Only you."

"I'm special enough to be picked up by alien robots," Alex shrugged slightly, "Not my fault."

"Alien robots," Bill echoed.

"Autonomous robotic organisms," Alex repeated what Crossfire had told him, "Autobots for short."

"Whatever they are, they're still out of this world," she muttered.

"Totally. They have their own world, well, they used to. Something happened to it, I think," he shrugged casually.

"Alex, you're insane. Getting involved with things like this. I know you like thrills and you seem to lack boundaries, but this… This is something else. You're out of your depth," Bill looked at him, almost pleadingly, "Go home. Let these things go on without you. I'm sure they don't need you to tag along with you."

Jak then choose that moment to intervene with his usual style as he rolled over, bouncing slightly as he did so, "Excuse me pretty miss," he came to a halt next to Alex, facing Bill straight on, "But we do need Alex with us. In fact, some of us rather enjoy his company. If Alex wants human companionship, I'm sure there's room in me for you."

"Jak, that is sick! Stop sounding like such a creep," Alex kicked Jak's nearest wheel, "Sounds like you're coming onto her! "

"So what if I am?" Jak replied lazily.

"Oh God. Interspecies Jak!" Alex looked away in disgust before glancing at Bill, "I'm sorry about him. He's… A little odd."

Bill nodded vaguely, looking at Jak as if he might suddenly attack her, "I'm sure he is."

"I'm perfectly damn fine. Maybe a little broken, but nothing that can't be overcome," Jak insisted, "I'm perfectly functional," he flashed a single light as he winked at Bill.

Alex ran a hand over his face, "Sick," he muttered again.

Bill stared at Jak. Maybe one little comment she could let go, but… "As much as I'd love a muscular man to come onto me right now, I'd rather a scrawny muscle _car _kept its… wheels to itself."

"Sure, miss, well, you know where to find me if you want to reconsider," Jak winked again.

"Oh my God… Traction!" Alex turned away, looking for someone to help control Jak.

Traction, now back in his Ram guise rumbled over, stopping beside Alex.

"Tell Jak to stop, please?" he tried his best to sound like he wasn't whining, but it still seemed that way.

Traction turned his wheels towards Jak and there was a pause before Jak grumbled quietly and muttered, "Fine," before sulking off.

Alex looked back at Bill and casually swung his arms at his sides, "You'd like a guy to come on to you, you say?" he smiled at her.

"I said a muscular one," she replied in a deadpan tone, causing his smile to disappear instantly.

"Owned Alex! She positively owned you!" Jak yelled from where he'd gone over to Drag and Freeway.

Alex flicked up his middle finger and waved it over his shoulder in the Mustang's direction, not bothering to give a verbal response. Traction gave a quiet rumble and turned to follow Jak, obviously trying to hurry Alex up.

"Uh… So… Bill, I have to get going," Alex indicated the four cars gathered together, "I'll see you sometime soon, right?"

"Alex, if you think I'm letting you go with those things on your own, you're mistaken. I'm going with you," she shook her head.

"You what?" Alex blinked at her, "Uh, I think Jak was joking when he was offering for you to come with us."

"No I wasn't!" Jak shouted.

"Shut it, Mustang!" Alex yelled back.

"I'm sticking with you Alex, you can't get rid of me. If you won't let me come, I'm sure your friend, Jak is it? will give me a ride," she shrugged.

"I'm not letting you get near him," Alex muttered.

"Whatever you do, you can't stop me from coming," with that she strode past him, heading for the four Autobots.

"Uh…" Alex turned around and hurried after her, "I don't know if the leader of this group would want that?"

"Well you can just ask him, can't you?" Bill flicked her hair over her shoulder casually as she walked.

"Bill, come on, be reasonable!" Alex tried.

"You're never reasonable, I'm just taking a leaf out of your book," she shrugged, slowing as she reached Freeway and glanced over him, looking a little apprehensive again, but trying to hide it in front of Alex, "Does this one mind if I ride in him?"

"I do!" Jak protested.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Alex shrugged, deciding that maybe if he let Freeway look after her, with his clumsy personality, he might scare her away.

"Does he speak too?" Bill asked.

"Only in his natural humanoid state, like all the others apart from Jak. He can't change form, he's broken," Alex shrugged.

"It's nothing, doesn't stop me from being cool," Jak added instead of getting huffy as usual, "I'm still as slick as ever."

"So slick," Bill rolled her eyes, "The Jeep's name?"

"Freeway," Alex told her, "He's the one who destroyed half of Vegas," he added casually, wandering over to Jak.

Bill paled slightly, but she didn't say anything, opening Freeways door before climbing in, glad that he had his soft top down as a cooling breeze tossed her hair up around her face.

"You don't need to drive," Alex told her as he got into Jak's driver's seat, "Freeway's a very accomplished driver," he shut the door, hiding himself from her, and added, "When he learns what the brake is, that is."

"You're so nice to her, aren't you?" Jak commented as he revved his engine lightly.

"At least I'm not overly nice, like someone," Alex prodded the dash, "You're out of line there."

"Afraid I'm stealing your girl?" there was a hint of a smirk in his voice.

"No," Alex huffed, "She's not my girl. I'm not interested in her, she's a friend."

"Sure," Jak gave a quiet laugh.

"What do you know about relationships anyway?" Alex folded his arms.

"We do have them too, you know," Jak began to move off as Traction pulled away, the Autobots slipping into single file with Drag at the back.

Alex snorted loudly, "Robot sex."

"Real mature, Al. We have life partners. They're like your marriage, except we're stuck together forever, no divorce. And yes, we can have children, but I'm not going into the details, there are loads of ways that it can happen," Jak explained.

Alex just snorted again, "I'll get it out of you eventually."

"I wonder if you really want to know," Jak commented, "If you want more information, talk to Pulse. He's got a partner out there somewhere, she's not on Earth."

Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Well, I wasn't expecting that."

"Think we're all young and single?" Jak sounded amused, "Don't be mistaken."

"You're just old and single?" Alex smirked.

"Some of us. Crossfire is old, or what is old to us. He's a few million years old. To compare, Tract's only a few hundred thousand, a little older than me. But still, that's not really that much."

"Whoa. That's a little older than I thought," Alex ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh yeah, Optimus Prime is well over four million, at least. I don't know the exact number," Jak shrugged, causing the cabin rise then fall and Alex to grab onto something for his safety.

"Impressive," Alex muttered as he shifted himself into a securer position in the seat, "What's the age order for you guys?"

"From oldest to youngest? Crossfire, Pulse, Reaper, Tract, me, Drag, and now Freeway. I'm guessing the newbie is around ten thousand, roughly," Jak sounded thoughtful.

"He seems like a sixteen year old," Alex frowned.

"That's pretty much our teenage years," Jak agreed, "Though to be honest, since we go on forever, age becomes nothing to us. We don't keep time like you humans."

Alex shrugged, "Comparatively, we're just a brief flash of life, so it's understandable that we try to control our time."

"Don't you go sounding too deep, Al, that's dangerous for you," Jak snorted in amusement.

Alex just rolled his eyes before twisting around his seat to see if Bill was doing ok with Freeway behind them.

She seemed to be a little put off by the steering wheel moving of its own accord in front of her, but otherwise appeared ok. Freeway hadn't crashed and exploded into a ball of flames just yet.

"Where we catching up with Crossfire and the other two?" Alex asked as he turned back around again.

"Where we were supposed to meet them before," Jak sounded a little sheepish.

"Ah," Alex smiled slightly and scratched his neck a little nervously, "Crossfire won't get angry with either of us will he?"

"He'd never get angry with you," Jak snorted again, "I'll probably just be a little reprimanded. If in doubt, I'll just shove some of the blame onto Drag. But Tract's bound to put in a good word."

"What about Bill tagging along?"

"The girlfriend? Uh, I don't know. He should be ok with it?" Jak shrugged again, tossing Alex around once more.

"She's not my girlfriend," Alex growled quietly, "How many times…?"

"Quite a few more."

"Great," he rolled his eyes, "Just don't say it in front of her. I don't want you chasing my only friend away."

"Hey! You're my buddy," Jak insisted.

"My only _human_ friend," Alex sighed.

"I'll do my best to keep quiet. Though it's hardly my fault if something slips out, she is very good looking."

"Jak. Please," Alex ran a hand over his face, "For the sake of my good health, don't say anything like that ever again. While I know you're not just a car, hearing it from one just doesn't sit quite right in my mind."

"She's hawt," Jak sniggered.

Alex groaned loudly and hid his face in his hands, "Tell me when we get there. I'm not talking to you."

Jak continued to snigger quietly, muttering the odd thing here and there about Bill as he drove.

Alex just tried to block him out, praying that if Bill did stay with them for however long they were going to be together, that Jak would buck up his ideas and quit with all the comments. He knew that Jak was joking; at least he hoped he was, but he couldn't help but find them a little irritating. Maybe he was just getting a bit jealous, but he told himself that was ridiculous, because why would Alex find Jak coming onto Bill someway harmful to him?

Whatever it was, he'd better just get over it.


	10. Partners

Up ahead Alex recognised the pull over they'd first stopped earlier when they were supposed to wait for the others. Now, however, the area of rough ground away from the road was occupied by Crossfire and Pulse, though Alex could faintly hear Reaper flying above them somewhere.

"He looks pissed," Jak muttered, "Well, at least as pissed as Crossfire gets."

"He looks like a fire truck to me. They always seem to have that expression," Alex commented.

"Probably why he picked it as his vehicle," Jak mused.

Alex just shrugged as they pulled off the road and rolled up behind Traction. They'd all managed to park in a perfect line apart from Freeway who was at a slight angle, though was apparently trying to make it look like he did it on purpose, his front wheels turning this way and that in the gravel to achieve a jaunty look while Bill just stared at the dash with a confused look.

"Out ya get," Jak prompted, opening his door so Alex could get out. He clambered out and casually ignored Crossfire, looking to Bill and indicating that she should join him. She jumped out of Freeway and briefly patted him on the wheel arch before hurrying over to Alex.

"Who are these two?" she asked quietly.

"Crossfire's the truck, he's in charge of these guys, and Pulse is the ambulance, the medic," Alex muttered quickly, just as all around them the Autobots began to buckle and twist into their natural states. All of them apart from Jak of course.

Bill took a step closer to Alex as she was forced to look up at all the bright eyes staring at her, and accidentally bumped into him, her hand brushing his. She quickly pulled it away and Alex felt obliged to grunt a quiet apology.

Crossfire turned his head in Jak's direction briefly, something unsaid passing between them, which made Jak back off slightly, before he crouched down in front of Bill and Alex.

"I thank you for going back for Traction, Alex," he gave a slow nod in gratitude, "But while I'm obviously grateful, I am a little worried though that you put yourself in harm's way."

Alex shrugged, "Traction took out Burnout and saved my life. I just got the feds off his back. Fair deal. I doubt they would have shot me anyway. Drag, Jak and Freeway were their too, so I'm sure they could have helped out if things became dire."

"Hmm," Crossfire looked like he wanted to say more, but resisted the urge to, glancing over to Freeway who was standing up straight, straighter than Drag who was slouched at his side, "Freeway?" he addressed him.

"Yes sir," Freeway went to bring his hand up in a salute, however hit Drag with what Alex thought was his elbow by accident, causing him to stagger into Traction, who quickly righted him. Drag looked murderous, but didn't say anything and just shook himself off, staring at the ground a little way ahead of him.

Crossfire looked rather amused, "You're dedicated to protecting the humans?"

"Yes sir," Freeway nodded enthusiastically, "They're absolutely fascinating. To think that the Decepticons want to kill them, it's horrible."

Crossfire just nodded, "We can talk more in detail while on the move. But now," he turned his attention to Bill at Alex's side, "Who's this?"

"Alex's girlfriend," Jak put in loudly before doing a very poor wolf whistle.

"A life partner?" Pulse looked intrigued.

"No, no, God no, please you guys," Alex said quickly, running a hand over his face before glancing at Bill, who had folded her arms, "She's my friend. Nothing more."

"And she's here, with us now, because?" Crossfire prompted.

"She followed us here. To keep an eye on me," Alex shrugged.

"Nothing more, eh?" Pulse chuckled quietly.

"Not you too," Alex grunted, shaking his head.

"Oh, sorry," he grinned, not sounding apologetic in the slightest.

Crossfire pretended not to notice anything and carried on, "So she followed us?" he echoed, sounding thoughtful as he peered at Bill.

She cringed away a little nervously, glancing at Alex, and then to his surprise, Freeway, for support.

"I'm sure Alex has told you that we won't harm you?" Crossfire raised his eyebrows.

"Well… Yes," she admitted, "But it's not everyday that you come so close to a huge extraterrestrial."

"Very true," he nodded slowly, glancing at Freeway who was watching both him, and Bill, closely, "You followed Alex in order to make sure he was safe?"

"Basically, yes," Bill nodded, "And to keep him out of trouble."

"Wise," Crossfire took on a musing tone again, looking her over as if assessing her.

Bill glanced at Alex as if asking him why the large Autobot was eyeing her up in such a fashion. He just shrugged, having no idea either, deciding that he'd best just let Crossfire continue to look thoughtful and not interrupt.

Meanwhile, Pulse took it upon himself to introduce them all to Bill briefly, since she had only been told and picked up snippets from Alex. When it came to introducing Reaper, all she could identify as him was a speck of black against the blue sky in the far distance, however she remembered the armed helicopter from the desert, so just nodded when Pulse apologised for him not being there.

Eventually, once Pulse had concluded, Crossfire nodded again and straightened up to his full height, so that Alex and Bill had to crane their necks, "She will stay with us, if she wishes."

"Uh," Alex grunted quietly, glancing at Bill who looked surprised, "Why?"

"She is your friend, is she not?" Crossfire raised his eyebrows, "And I think that she has much to offer Freeway. He is eager to learn, while she seems the kind to be good at teaching."

Alex looked across to Freeway who was nodding excitedly, oblivious to the look of disgust Drag was giving him for being less than professional. Bill however looked a little torn, unsure suddenly if she should be allowed to tag along. Alex casually glanced at her and shrugged, the simple gesture telling her she could do what she wanted.

"Well… I…" she muttered, looking at Freeway before turning her attention up to Crossfire, "I don't want to intrude…?"

"Nonsense," he shook his head, "You'd be beneficial. I'm sure that you maybe able to help us in someway. You could leave whenever you want too. We would never force you into something you didn't want."

"So this doesn't tie me down to anything?" Bill asked.

"Not at all," Crossfire shook his head again, "This is your world, you're at liberty to do as you want."

"Nothing military related?" she added.

"The NEST organisation that Optimus Prime and his team work under has no jurisdiction over us, nor them, to be truthful. They advise, both NEST and Prime, but otherwise we're separate, much like fellow Autobots who have arrived here on Earth seeking sanctuary," he explained.

Bill glanced at Alex briefly, leaning close to him to mutter, "Optimus Prime?"

"I think he's the leader of all the Autobots, the good ones," Alex shrugged quietly, "He was the one who was involved in the Paris incident."

"Oh," she nodded slightly, before looking back to Crossfire, "Well I suppose I can stay and see how things go."

"Very well," he nodded, "Though I will warn you, things may get dangerous. With the Decepticons appearing at every turn, it's likely that you will often find yourself in the middle of our conflict."

"I'm sure I can cope," she shrugged.

"I hope you can," Crossfire just nodded, "It will be Freeway's duty to look after you, much like it's Jak's to look after Alex, however if you need us, we will be at your side in an instant. Our main goal is to protect Alex at all costs, however."

Bill glanced at Alex, looking rather amused, "Dare I ask why?"

Alex shrugged lazily, "Oh, you know, alien compound in my blood that the evil guys want to kill me for. Nothing out of the ordinary there."

"Fair enough," she frowned slightly at his attitude.

"And now, we must move on again," Crossfire spoke up once more, "I apologise for our constant travelling, however we've learnt that staying out in the open can be more than a little dangerous. We'd be safe at our base, yet we can't hide there forever."

"Where we moving onto?" Alex asked, absently flicking a few stray strands of hair from his eyes as he looked up.

"Our assistance has been requested northeast of here by a small band of fellow Autobots who have found themselves under increasing attack from the Deceptions. They're are convinced they're hiding something from them, however the Autobots claim they have nothing," Crossfire shook his head, looking a little confused, "We plan to eradicate the Decepticons in the area, while finding out what they were aiming for."

Alex frowned, "Sounds interesting."

"It's certainly unusual," Crossfire agreed, "Unless the Autobots don't realise they have something of value."

"I would have thought they would," Pulse spoke up, "For us not to realise when something is important, it must be something that isn't Cybertronian. It may be human, therefore we share no connection with it."

"What more could they want that's related to humans?" Traction asked as the other Autobots began to join in with the conversation, "We understand that Megatron and Prime are constantly grappling over any shards of the Cube, while Megatron has sent others to seek out humans like Alex who carry Fusion, however what more could their be on this small planet?"

"The Decepticons are bound to have found something they want," Drag folded his arms, "Even if it's something small and insignificant. If they want it, then they'll get it. Any destruction that occurs is a bonus to them. They spend all their time looking for ways to gain for themselves while causing suffering to others."

"Either that, or they think they've found more Energon," Jak shrugged.

Crossfire glanced at him, raising his eyebrows.

"What? They obsess over it, and you know it," he shrugged.

"I would have thought after the events a couple of years ago, that maybe they'd have realised that Earth, and its sun, are not a source of Energon," Crossfire shook his head.

"Do Decepticons ever take hints?" Jak flashed his lights, "I think not."

"Hijack has a point," Drag nodded, "If the Decepticons even catch onto what they think might be an Energon source, they'd never give it up."

"Uh, Energon?" Alex spoke up, "Explain for us?" he indicated himself and Bill.

"Freeway, care to explain?" Crossfire looked at him.

He looked almost fit to burst at the prospect of actually being useful and quickly nodded, "Yes sir, of course. Energon is our source of energy and is highly useful. It can be used in such diverse fashions as sustenance to ammunitions. Most importantly however, it's the building blocks to us. Our bodies and our Sparks, which are basically our versions of your hearts, are created from Energon. In its pure state, it is highly volatile and can be extremely destructive. Any slight impact may cause it to detonate explosively. In order to transport it, it can be condensed into an Energon cube, however, while much more stable, it can still be quite dangerous. Pure Energon cannot be handled by any of us, since it can potentially cause us to overload due to the sheer amount of energy," Freeway finished and looked at Crossfire expectantly. He received a smile and nod, causing him to once again look far too happy.

"Also," Jak added lazily, "If it's in a liquid state and a small amount is drunk by us, we become 'over-energized'. Or as you two may know it, absolutely stoned, shattered and _totally_ wasted."

"Drunk?" Alex snorted slightly.

"Exactly," Jak nodded in his customary manner, "It's great fun."

"And dangerous," Pulse added.

"Only in excess," Jak shrugged off his comment.

Pulse just rolled his eyes and muttered something about it being a good thing that there was no liquid Energon on Earth, as well as Jak not being in a state to drink.

"That's enough of this talk for now. We had better be moving on," Crossfire looked around at his team of Autobots, "The journey should take us around five hours. Reaper has checked the area and it seems to be clear of Decepticons. Spectre vanished after a tussle with him, apparently."

"That's all Spectre's good at," Drag grunted, "Running and disappearing. Worthless piece of scrap metal," he added darkly.

The others around him just nodded, both Traction and Pulse glancing at each other before they began to fold into their vehicle forms.

Crossfire looked at Drag expectantly, and there was a moment's pause before the Autobot turned away and knelt down to convert into the Aston Martin. Freeway seemed to be struggling a little beside him and eventually Traction moved over to him in order to give him some support as one of the young Autobot's legs appeared to get stuck briefly.

Crossfire was the last to reform into the fire truck, whereat he took up position by the road; ready to move out once they were all ready.

Alex indicated that they should get to their designated drivers, and after a moments hesitation hurried away from Bill towards Jak who was waiting with his door open. Bill watched him get into the Mustang before turning to Freeway who looked like he was shuffling uncomfortably, however fell still once her gaze fell on him. She quickly made her way over to him and clambered into the drivers seat after once again patting him on the wheel arch.

Once he was content that everyone was settled and ready, Crossfire lead the Autobots off the gravelled area and onto the road, all in a perfect line apart from when Freeway occasionally drifted into the other side of the road. This occurred a few times until Drag finally blared his horn at him in irritation and Freeway quickly gained control of himself again, but only just doing so thanks to Bill who quickly reassured him that his driving wasn't that bad.

After an hour or so in the air conditioned comfort of Jak, where the benefits were almost outweighed by the loud music pounding through the many speakers around him, Alex couldn't help but wonder if Bill was going to burn to a crisp as they drove through the empty expanse of desert. Maybe she liked having the top down, she did own a convertible after all. Or maybe there was enough of a breeze to keep her cool.

He paused in his thinking, suddenly wondering why he honestly cared that much. Sure she was his friend, but she knew what she was doing. She didn't need him worrying that she might get a little sunburnt or dehydrate slightly.

At the mention of dehydrating, Alex's stomach suddenly gave a loud growl.

He'd almost forgotten in the heat of the moment, and the desert. It'd been almost a whole day since he'd eaten and drunk something.

Jak obviously heard his stomach rumbling, even through the music, and snorted in amusement, "Of course, you humans have to eat, don't you? Someone hungry?"

"You could say that. I didn't realise I was starving until I starting thinking about it," Alex ran a hand over his face.

"Want a detour so you can pick something up? Just a quick drive through?"

"Something's better than nothing, I guess," Alex nodded, "Will Crossfire mind?"

"I think both of us don't want you to starve to death in me. Could you believe how hard it would be to get your tiny body out of my driver's seat? Drag's the only one with small enough hands to do so without tearing me to pieces, and I really don't think he'd want to pull your dead carcass out of me," Jak still sounded rather amused.

"Oh, lovely Jak. What a brilliant image that just gave me," Alex pulled a face, "Of all places to die, it has to be in an arrogant Mustang."

"Correction. Arrogant _Autobot_. I'm technically no more of a Mustang than you are a shirt and jeans. You're not what you wear are you?"

"You have a point," Alex nodded.

"We'll stop off at the next place we see, regardless whether you like the food or not. I'm sure they'll have something you'll eat," Jak commented.

"I generally eat anything," Alex shrugged, beginning to root around in his pockets for some change, "Lets just hope I have enough money."

"If you don't, check this," Jak popped open his glove compartment. Alex leant across to it and peered in, frowning when he found a wad of cash in it.

"Do I want to know?" he sat up again.

"In case of emergency."

"You stole it?"

"Hell no! We just happen to have money on us," Jak insisted.

"As you do. Because you're obviously going to saunter into some random shop and buy some clothes?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"More like in case we have a human passenger who needs money," Jak muttered, "But hey, if you don't want or need it…" the glove compartment slammed shut.

"I don't need your money," Alex huffed, once again diving into his pockets, "I have it all here. I can pay for my own food."


	11. It's Fuschia, Not Pink

Less than thirty minutes later, having stopped off at the first Wendy's they'd seen in the middle of no where, Alex was now having to go back on his word.

"Jak, would you please just let me have one dollar," he asked for the umpteenth time as he tried to break into the glove compartment, which was refusing to open.

"'I can pay for my own food'," Jak imitated Alex, "You're not getting one cent out of me."

"Jak!" Alex slapped the dash.

"Sir, is everything ok?" the voice from the drive thru speaker next to him sounded concerned.

Alex cleared his throat and leant over to the microphone, "It's all fine, I'm just struggling to find a little bit of change."

"Your order has been processed and is awaiting pick up, sir," the voice prompted, "There's also a queue forming behind you."

"I know, I know," Alex muttered before hitting the Mustang again, "One dollar, Jak!"

"On one condition," he sounded smug.

"What?"

"You let your lady friend ride in me, alone, for an hour."

Alex scowled, looking like he wanted to continue beating the crap out of Jak's dash, but he just gave a stiff nod, "Ok, fine, whatever. Give me the money."

"Sweet," Jak rocked slightly on his suspension as he let Alex have access to the money in the glove compartment. He snatched a single dollar bill, picked up his own money, then leant across to the drive thru counter and it into a little slot.

There was a pause before the man on the other end of the speaker spoke up again, "Thank you, sir, you may collect your food."

"Finally," Alex thumped the steering wheel as Jak rolled forwards slowly to the collecting window just around the corner of the building.

A woman was waiting with his order and smiled cheerfully when he stopped alongside her, "One Baconator, one fries and one large Sprite," she offered him a paper bag containing the food, and Alex was forced to lean out the window to get it, thanks to Jak's most likely purposeful stopping at quite a distance away.

"Thanks," Alex grunted as he withdrew back into the car and chucked the food on the passenger's seat.

"Off the seat!" Jak exclaimed loudly, "I don't want Baconator grease leaking through onto my pristine leather!" he exclaimed before adding, "Lol. Baconator."

Alex rolled his eyes and picked the bag up again. He glanced at the woman in the window who was frowning slightly, and he guessed that she'd heard Jak's outburst. He just smiled innocently and hit a button so that the tinted window slid up slowly, blocking out her view.

"Just drive," Alex leant on the steering wheel slightly as Jak obliged, taking them out of the drive thru slowly, and then back onto the main road.

"You owe me a dollar," Jak commented as he settled back into driving, "And your girlfriend."

Alex just grunted and sat back in his chair, grabbing his burger from the bag and beginning to eat.

"Don't get any food on me anywhere," Jak warned.

"I won't, stop being such a sissy," Alex rolled his eyes, "Anyway, how far ahead have the others got?"

They'd turned off from the main road that they were sticking on the majority of the destination in order to find somewhere to eat that wasn't a run down looking café on the side of the road. In doing so, they'd been forced to split up, and according to Jak, Crossfire had been very adamant that they should regroup as soon as possible. The main group had slowed their speed as much as the speed limit would allow, while Jak was now pushing the speed limit as much as he dared in order to catch up with them.

"They're probably about half an hour ahead, I guess," he mused, "We carry on along this road and we should eventually intersect their road just as they do, if our speeds remain as they are that is."

Alex nodded, his mouth too full to respond as he turned his attention to his food.

"Eat quickly, don't you know it's dangerous to eat while you're driving? I can't give you the Heimlich manoeuvre," Jak commented, "Unless I chuck you out and run you over?" he added.

"If I eat any faster, I'll choke anyway," Alex grunted, grabbing his drink from the bag and taking a long draught, only to end up coughing and spluttering half of it across Jak's windscreen.

"Oh, no way! Alex! Wipe that off! I can't do anything about it!" Jak swerved slightly onto the other side of the road.

"Watch where you're driving!" Alex shot back, "And don't you dare say you can't see, I know you can!"

Jak grumbled loudly and righted his course, trying to get Alex to hurry up and wipe his window by switching his windscreen wipers onto full speed.

"We're in a desert, Jak, anyone passing will think I'm insane for having the wipers on," Alex looked around for something to clean the window with, carefully balancing his drink and burger on his lap, leaving the fries in the bag.

"Well, I'm sorry. Clean my window!" Jak insisted.

"I don't have a cloth or anything! Will a napkin do?"

"It'll smear! I don't want smear makes over my window!"

"It's a clean napkin," Alex grabbed it from one side and waved it around.

"It'll still smear. I only want the purest cotton on my insides," Jak suddenly turned the air conditioning up on full blast, trying to dry the drink off his window, "Your shirt, use your shirt."

"Oh God, that's freezing, turn it down," Alex tried to twist various knobs and press a range of buttons but nothing seemed to be happening, "And I am not stripping off and cleaning your window with my shirt."

"I'm sure Bill would."

"Fine!" Alex pulled his shirt off quickly and after a little while of grumbling to himself, he began to try and dry the drink off Jak's window.

"Use sweeping circular motions, don't scrub!"

"Do you want to do it yourself?" Alex stopped.

"Fine, fine," Jak muttered.

Alex was extremely glad that Jak's windows were tinted right then, since had any of the few cars that passed them seen he was cleaning the window when he was supposed to be driving, they'd have most likely swerved off the road in shock. He wasn't exactly in the most flattering pose either; twisted over the steering wheel, partly kneeling on the seat in order to reach some of the droplets of water that had managed to slip down the steep windscreen into the most awkward of gaps. For this reason, his face was almost crushed against the side pillar and window while he fought to get his arm to go in the right direction. He was also trying his hardest to ignore Jak, who was sniggering loudly in amusement, and occasionally purposefully swerved to try and dislodge him.

Eventually Alex slumped back into the seat, "That better?" he asked as he went to pull his shirt back on, only to grimace at the marks all over it and chuck it into the back.

"Perfect," Jak answered smugly.

"You owe me a shirt. I have no other clothes with me," Alex grabbed the seatbelt and clipped it back on.

"I'll take you shopping sometime, sadly there don't appear to be any outlets in the desert."

"Jak. I need a shirt."

"You can wash that one in a stream."

"We're in a desert. There are no streams."

"I'll find you one," he offered cheerfully.

"Gee thanks," Alex muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Jak made an amused noise but said no more, letting his music once again fill the cabin.

After a short while of music Alex once again didn't recognise, Jak lowered the volume and spoke up, "Check out the bug car coming up behind us."

Alex glanced in the rear view mirror then twisted around in the seat to look out the back at a small, dark green car slowly gaining on them.

He pulled a face, "Looks like Lotus Elise. Those things are disgusting. Whoever designed them must have been blind, as the people who buy them also have to be."

"It's tiny. Who wants to sit behind the wheel of something like that?" Jak asked, "It looks like its eyeing up my ass up too, with that evil grin it's wearing."

"It does look like it's rather happy about something. Why do people give cars grills like that? It looks insane," Alex shook his head, watching as the car got closer, looking like it was planning on overtaking.

"Let it zoom past with its stupid face," Jak muttered as it moved out into the other side of the road, "I'll be the one pulling faces at it's butt now."

Alex nodded absently as the car pulled along side, and casually cast a glance across to see if the driver had a similarly stupid grin on his face as he over took a Mustang with his wannabe super car.

However there was no one behind the wheel. And in all honesty, Alex really should have expected that by now.

"Uh, Jak," Alex muttered as the Elise sped up a little more in order to get past them, "Is your Decepticon sense tingling right now?"

"Hmm? Uh. Not really. I generally just know by what they look like anyway. Why so?" he asked lazily.

"Because the Lotus hasn't got a driver."

"Ah. Well damn. Lets put it this way; they're not an Autobot. Must be a new Decepticon."

"How far are we from the others?"

"Fifteen minutes, approximately," Jak suddenly sounded distant.

"Can you maintain this speed and hold them off?" Alex frowned.

"Only if they don't switch back to normal and turn the guns on me. I'm no use when it comes to being on the offence .I have to run or just act on impulse, if I can, that is. Hopefully they'll just be content to stick in front of me like they're currently doing. Maybe they think we haven't twigged?" Jak didn't sound as hopeful as he'd been aiming for.

"I think we both know that's not likely," Alex absently checked his seatbelt, just to be on the safe side.

Jak didn't respond, his music now off completely as he seemed to be either concentrating, or communicating with the others. Alex just kept his eyes on the Lotus in front of them, it seemingly just continuing to pretend to be a perfectly normal car, keeping at a steady speed.

Suddenly Jak faltered, Alex being flung forward slightly as the Mustang stuttered briefly, leading to an almost complete stop.

"What?" Alex tore his eyes off the Lotus.

"Behind us. We're sandwiched between two Decepticons. I can't get out now," Jak then proceed to list off a very colourful list of words Alex wished he'd never hear again. He turned around in the seat and peered behind him to see what looked like a fairly old classic car gaining on them.

"Sidelight. He's freaking insane," Jak offered, "Definitely with Doomsday, like Burnout was. But at least Burnout was relatively normal. Sidelight is missing quite a few nuts and bolts, to say the least."

"Great," Alex muttered, "Is that why he's pink?"

"Most likely. The idiot apparently landed by some old classic car show and went for one of the craziest looking cars he could see."

"A pink Cadillac El Dorado? Those fins on the rear fenders could take an eye out."

"They are rather dangerous," Jak muttered, "Especially when he rams one into your side."

Alex pulled a face, "Crossfire and the others?"

"Oh, they're ok. But they're speeding up to try and get here to help us. Reaper especially," Jak added.

"Glad to hear it," Alex muttered as he glanced over his shoulder at Sidelight who was now right behind them.

"Oh damn," Jak swore again, suddenly having to brake harshly as the Lotus in front of them slowed drastically as it began to buckle and fold directly in front of them. Alex glimpsed Sidelight doing the same behind them, and soon they were trapped between the two Decepticons in their humanoid forms. The Lotus in front seemed relatively small, much shorter than Drag at around ten feet, and therefore not that threatening. However Sidelight behind them looked to be about the same height as Traction, and had a rather terrifyingly crazed expression, his red eyes not only clashing with his paintwork, but also accentuating his madness. The large pointed fins that had been on either side of his rear wheel arches were now along the outside of his lower arms, and if possible, looked as sharp as a blade. Alex didn't remember El Dorado's being that deadly.

"Al, just trust me here," Jak muttered quietly, "Stay strapped in at all times. Don't leave the seat or me, no matter what they do, or I do."

"Ok," Alex frowned, a little uncertain.

Behind them Sidelight had bent down and was peering through Jak's rear window, "Oh hi, Hijack! How nice to see you again!" he gave a slightly high pitch laugh, straightening up before casually kicking Jak up the backside so that he lurched forward with a quiet grunt, "And the human, of course. The human!" Sidelight was suddenly down on his knees again, shoving his face close to the driver's door, trying to peer through the glass to see Alex, "Do you really need to keep him shut up like this? All I want to do is say a little hello," he smirked nastily, allowing Alex to see a set of deadly looking teeth that matched the fins on his arms.

Jak revved his engine angrily and moved slightly away from him, which only put him closer to the other Decepticon, "Stay away Sidelight," he warned.

"Or what? Poor little Hijack will attack us? Will he bump into us in his stupid little car form that he's stuck in. Oh, Hazard hates the fact he didn't manage to kill you, but I absolutely _adore _you being stuck like this. Makes our meetings far more amusing," Sidelight straightened up again, putting a huge claw-like hand on Jak's hood to push himself up with, causing Jak to tip forward, his rear wheels lifting off the ground from Sidelight's weight.

Jak was growling, both vocally and through his engine, obviously furious with both Sidelight and himself for being so useless and broken.

"Isn't he delightfully fun?" Sidelight smiled nastily at the Lotus who didn't look very happy.

"We're supposed to kill him and take the human," he snapped, "Not play with him or talk to him. Just kill him. Now."

"Oh, but I have yet to introduce Hijack to you," Sidelight sauntered for a few steps, his feet extremely close to crushing Jak, so that he could see through the front window a little better, Alex just about visible to him now. He waved a hand at the Lotus, "Meet a new recruit, Hijack. Another one came to our side against the pathetic and useless humans. Roulette here has intelligence."

"Unlike you," Jak retorted, "I will never understand why Doomsday bothers with you. Honestly, why would he want a pink prissy thing following him around?"

Sidelight suddenly looked furious and he bent down, grabbing hold of Jak's front, lifting him up slightly, "It's fuchsia, not pink! Doomsday recognises my potential!" he screeched.

"Yeah, sure, your potential as cannon fodder," Jak grunted, sounding in pain.

Sidelight dug his sharp fingers into Jak's hood, slicing the metal easily with a sickening screeching sound, which made Alex fling his hands up to protect his ears.

"Stop wasting time, you idiot!" Roulette snapped at Sidelight again, "Kill him. Get the human."

Sidelight snarled over his shoulder at Roulette, "Don't overstep your position, or it'll be the last thing you do," he warned darkly. The other Decepticon scowled at him but said no more.

Sidelight returned his attention to Jak and realised his grip, dropping his front so that it hit the ground hard, bouncing slightly, causing Alex to be thrown around a little. Jak grunted and gave a quiet groan before cursing and revving his engine to make the point that he hadn't been beaten yet.

"Stop trying so hard," Sidelight casually flicked him with a finger, which managed to open up a large gash across Jak's already punctured hood.

Alex heard Jak grunt again, although it sounded like he was trying to hide the fact Sidelight was causing him some real pain.

Alex had never been one to obey orders or listen to anyone, not even his parents, so it was understandable that he now treated Jak telling him to stay in the driver's seat the same way. Though unable to formulate a much of a plan, this didn't stop him as he suddenly quickly undid the seatbelt and opened the driver's door, determined to distract the Decepticons so they wouldn't continued to harm Jak.

"Alex, no!" Jak went to stop him from getting free, however Alex had slipped out before he'd even had a chance to shut the door on him.

Sidelight looked down at Alex by his feet, now wearing a triumphant smirk as he bent down to inspect him, "How nice to meet you human," he looked him over as if he was inspecting a fine cut of meat, "How very nice indeed. I can virtually _smell_ the Fusion in your blood. Can you smell it Roulette? It's so pure. So perfect," he gave another one of his hysterical laughs, "Oh Doomsday will be pleased. This is ideal," he went to grab Alex.

Alex swore and jumped back out of the way, narrowly missing having his face slashed in half by Sidelight's fingers.

"Slippery little fleshling," he scowled, trying again.

Alex just jumped out the way again, realising that Sidelight was rather slow and a little uncoordinated, obviously not able to see him very well, which surprised him since he'd have though robotic life forms to have electronically perfect vision. Apparently that just wasn't the case with Sidelight.

The Decepticon tried a few more times in vain to grab hold of Alex, however only succeeded in angering himself instead.

"Pathetic really," Jak muttered faintly, attempting to gather himself together as quickly as he could to intervene and get Alex out the trouble he'd stupidly put himself in.

"Sidelight!" Roulette snapped, striding over to him before making a grab at Alex himself. This time, Alex was clipped in the chest by the Decepticon, however it only succeeded in knocking him over, Roulette's hand only just about half a meter long, therefore didn't do too much damage, and even if he had managed to grab Alex, it wouldn't have been easy from him to maintain much of a hold on him.

"Oh for -!" Roulette's outstretched hand suddenly twisted back on itself, being replaced by what looked like the muzzle of a gun, which aimed itself at Alex's head, "Let me just kill it!"

"Don't even think about it, you fool," Sidelight snapped, shoving Roulette away roughly, "Doomsday would be furious! He'd tear you limb from limb! _I'd_ tear you limb from limb!"

Roulette shot him a murderous look but stepped away after a moment, allowing Alex to scramble to his feet and dust himself down, running a hand over his suddenly rather purple and bruised looking torso.

"Now, human, stay still or I will allow Roulette to shoot _your_ limbs off," Sidelight threatened, bending down to Alex, going to grab him again.

"Wait," Alex put his hands up quickly.

"What?" Sidelight scowled at him, pausing.

"Uh," Alex quickly racked his brains. He didn't know what he was going to say. Yelling 'wait' had seemed to be the right thing to do when you were most likely going to be crushed by a giant robotic hand.

"What?" Sidelight bent down and shoved his face close to Alex, who cringed at the distinctive smell of oil.

"Uh," he repeated, taking a step back before suddenly blurting out, "Look behind you."

"I'm not falling for that stupid human trick," Sidelight snarled.

"I think you should," Jak commented, sounding a little more with it now.

"Shut up, worthless Autobot!" Sidelight went to claw Jak's roof off, however his arm was suddenly grabbed by a large dark hand, and he was yanked backwards by whoever was behind him.

"I told you to look behind you," Alex shrugged as Sidelight was thrown backwards, flying a good distance before crashing into the ground near where Roulette was also in a heap on the floor.

Reaper now stood where Sidelight had been standing and he briefly bent down, checking Alex was ok before tapping Jak on the roof in reassurance when he saw the various holes littering his body. He then turned his attention back to Roulette and Sidelight, advancing on them threatening, his hands curled tightly into fists. Roulette didn't waste anytime in scrambling to his feet and staggering backwards a few steps before breaking into a run. After a short distance, he suddenly folded in on himself mid stride, hitting the ground back in his Lotus alternative form before speeding off in the direction he'd come from earlier.

"Coward!" Sidelight yelled after him furiously, trying to get to his feet before Reaper reached him. He did manage it, but was unable to block a blow, which caught him square in the face.

Alex could barely stand the screeching and grinding of metal as the two became locked in a fistfight, and he kept grimacing and wincing with each blow they delivered to each other. They staggered back and forth along the road, pushing each other in opposing directions causing rather large gashes in the asphalt to form from where they'd been literally digging their heels.

Reaper seemed to have the upper hand, both being taller as well as more heavily built than Sidelight. A lot of the blows the Decepticon tried for merely glanced off of Reaper and left him open for an undercutting attack from the Autobot. So after a little while longer, Sidelight seemed to be lagging, a few of his parts that no longer sat quite right rattling loudly each time he moved.

Reaper looked like he wanted to finish the Decepticon off, and kept at him, not letting up even when Sidelight began to back away in a show of submission. Eventually Reaper had Sidelight on his back, a hand at his throat, ready to end it with a simple blow.

Alex was transfixed and had moved a little way away from Jak in order to follow the fighting, and had he been on a seat right that moment, he'd be on the edge of it, waiting to see what happened next.

However it didn't quite go to plan.

"Failure," Sidelight hissed at Reaper as he tried to pull free from the Autobot's grip, "You can't run away from what you were built to be."

Reaper suddenly seemed to lock up, his grip slackening on Sidelight so much so that the Decepticon suddenly pulled free and managed to scramble far enough away that he reverted to his Cadillac guise. After a little bit of engine trouble, he began to limp off, gradually gathering speed as he went.

Alex frowned and glanced back at Jak, but he seemed to be too busy muttering to himself to be paying them any attention. He then looked back as Reaper who was still in the same position; bent over on one knee, but he now had his head hanging and was looking distinctly ashamed of himself.

Alex edged closer cautiously, "Reaper?"

The Autobot quickly looked up, a brief flash of anger passing across his face before he blinked a few times then sighed, shaking his head.

"What was that about?" Alex waved a hand in the direction Sidelight had disappeared.

Reaper looked a little surprised that Alex had heard the brief comment from the Decepticon, then his expression turned torn as he obviously contemplated something. Eventually he looked Alex dead in the eyes before quietly responding, "Don't tell anyone. Please."  
His voice sounded rough from disuse, but it had a quiet and mellow quality that made it sound rather smooth despite how it caught on every other word. Alex just blinked, unable to believe that the silent Reaper had actually spoken to him, which he had gathered from what the others had said, must be a momentous occasion. It was just a shame that Reaper sounded so sombre and worried.

Reaper didn't say anymore, and simply put a finger to his lips to emphasise what he'd just said, just as Jak rolled over slowly, cursing and muttering angrily like an old man.

"I can't believe they both got away," he said finally as he came to a stop by Alex, "You could have taken them easily, Reaps!"

Reaper just shrugged, waving a hand briefly to indicate they'd just slipped away. He purposefully didn't look at Alex, suggesting that maybe he didn't want him to mention that he'd frozen up and that was what had given Sidelight a chance for escape.

"Freaking idiots," Jak continued to growl quietly, "I _hate_ not being able to do anything! They pin me in and I'm useless, no way I can run out of something like that. Why do I have to be so broken?!"

Reaper bent down and patted Jak on the roof to try and calm him down but Jak just revved his engine angrily and drove a little distance away from them.

Alex glanced at Reaper who just shrugged and indicated that he could try if he wanted to. So after a moment's hesitation, Alex wandered casually over to Jak and leant on him lazily, "You ok, buddy?"

"No."

"Ok, stupid thing to ask really," Alex pulled a face, "But listen, you did what you could, and you did it well."

"You still got hurt. You got out of me, because I was being torn apart! You knew I was failing at protecting you," Jak muttered bitterly.

"Hey, no, it wasn't anything like that. I got out because I was trying to distract them from you, to give you a chance to get yourself together. It's only a bruise, maybe a few broken ribs. It's nothing," Alex shook his head.

"I'm supposed to die for you. Not the other way around."

"No one's dying for anyone. Jak, it's ok to have bad days," Alex sighed.

"It's not just a bad day, Alex. Don't you get it? I'm a pointless part of anything when I'm stuck in this form. I ferry people around. Oh yay, I can play taxi. Why the hell didn't I think about taking a taxi form? I can't protect my charge if I'm constantly a vehicle. I can't do anything! I should just go rust in a scrap yard somewhere. If Pulse can't ever fix me, then I'm stuck like this forever more."

"At least you look good. Got style," Alex tried.

Jak gave a hollow laugh, "That's nice to know when I'm being useless."

"You're not useless," Alex absently ran his fingers along the edge of Jak's window, "Far from it. So what if you can't fight? I know you've spent so long in a conflict with the Decepticons, but it seems like you've forgotten there's more to life than that. Don't waste time getting messed up over being 'broken' because I bet you're still the same guy as before, humanoid formed or not. You're cool Jak, you've got attitude and style that the other Autobots lack."

Jak grunted quietly and gave a lopsided shrugged, "Maybe."

"Not maybe. Come on Jak. You rock along, music blaring, not a care in the world. Don't let it get to you; I'm sure the Decepticons would be surprised to see you blasting through them as a Mustang. You don't need a fighting form, because you've got it all here," Alex tapped him lightly on the roof, "You just need to work out some kick ass moves to take 'em down."

Jak sighed quietly, "I suppose."

"You're just as good as any of the others," Alex reassured him, "Don't let it get you down."

Jak just grunted quietly in response and dipped his hood in a half-hearted nod. Alex sighed and straightened up, turning away before wandering over to the side of the road where he slumped down on the white line, staring into the distance as they waited for the others to meet up with them. Jak obviously wasn't going anywhere with various parts of him clawed open.

Reaper glanced briefly at Alex and Jak, and obviously deciding that they were ok, he moved off the road, a little way into the rough desert where he buckled and folded into his alternative helicopter form. There was a few seconds pause before he took off, obviously going to check and see where the others had got to.


	12. A Complete Ass

Terrible chapter is terrible . Sorry to anyone who dies of boredem from this one. I promise they'll get moving eventually. And for those interested, Jak's hologram at the end (later becomes a holoform [why yes, I have only uploaded about 10% of what I've written]) looks like this - (shove sheppard56 . deviantart [no spaces] in front to complete the address, FF apparenly hates linking :D) .com/art/Human-Hijack-142974771 AND .com/art/Human-Jak-Expressions-2-143618156 - pictures courtesy of myself :P (And if you're interested, browse the rest of my dA for the rest of Recon/my other OCs, both 'bot and human :D

On to boredem!

* * *

Less than a minute later, a couple of cars sped past, the drivers and their passengers all peering out their windows to rubberneck at Alex and Jak. It seemed pretty darn lucky that all innocent passers by hadn't stumbled upon the Decepticons. Alex had no doubt in his mind that Sidelight and Roulette wouldn't have given a damn if they'd accidentally taken out a handful of humans.

Irritatingly, one of the passing cars pulled up behind where Jak had limped off the road, and the driver, a middle aged man, got out looking concerned. He took one glance at Jak, his eyes widening at the damage, before hurrying over to Alex who was still sitting on the ground, his head propped up on the heel of his palm. He pretended not to notice the man at first, but eventually couldn't avoid him any longer when the man crouched down and virtually shoved his face into Alex's.

"Are you alright, son?" the man frowned.

Alex shrugged, looking up, casually folding his arms across his chest to hide the majority of the bruising, "Yeah, fine."

"Your car? What happened?" he pressed.

"Oh, uh," Alex glanced at the claw-like markings over Jak's hood and roof, "Bear attack."

The man's frown deepened, "Are you sure you're ok? There aren't any bears in these parts."

"Oh, ok, I might have been mistaken. It may have been a rather vengeful ground squirrel. It was a bit of a blur when it attacked; fur and claws everywhere," Alex shrugged.

The man eyed him up, still looking concerned, "Whatever it was, it's left some lovely marks in your car. Do you need me to call a tow truck for you?"

"Nah, I'm fine, don't worry," Alex shook his head, "You get on your way, I'm waiting for some friends to come pick me up and sort things."

"I think I'd better wait with you until they turn up," the man was watching Alex closely, "You look like you've hit your head recently, so maybe that's why you're in this state."

Alex put his hand to his head with a frown then paused. Of course. It seemed so long ago, when he'd first met Drag and cracked his head open. He'd forgotten it would still look fairly fresh, and while it wasn't bleeding, it felt like the gauze had peeled off.

"I'm fine," Alex eventually insisted, "Really I am. There's no need for you to take any time out of your busy schedule. I'll be picked up and my car will be running in no time."

The man eyed Jak up, "I don't think you realise the damage your car has sustained, son. It's not a simple matter of replacing a wheel."

"Yeah, I gathered," Alex rolled his eyes, "Well my friends are dab hands when it comes to cars."

"Your front axel is twisted."

"I know."

"Then you'll know that your car won't be fixed for a long time."

Alex sighed dramatically, just wishing the man would get on his way and quit being so noisy, "I'm sure."

"Are you sure you don't want me to call someone?" the man asked again.

"Oh for…" Alex ran a hand over his face, "I'm very grateful that you're trying to help, but honestly, my car and I are perfectly fine, despite outward appearances. Please, don't let me hold you up."

The man looked slightly affronted but nodded and straightened up, "Well, if you insist."

"He does insist," Jak muttered quietly, "Take a hint."

"What was that?" he frowned, looking towards Jak.

Alex just coughed loudly, "I said, I do insist," he covered quickly.

"Oh, ok, I could have sworn that came for over by your car," the man glanced at Jak again.

"Nonsense," Alex stood up too and began to casually herd him towards his car, keeping his arms over his bare chest.

The man frowned as he was forced back towards his car, however stopped suddenly, looking into the distance, "Oh, look, I'm sure they can help you."

Alex glanced over his shoulder and grimaced, "They can help me all right."

Crossfire, flanked by the other Autobots in a long line, was rapidly approaching, and before Alex could stop him, the man had stepped into the middle of the road to flag them down.

Alex just groaned quietly and wandered over to Jak, running a hand over his face.

"Helpful human," Jak commented lightly.

"And noisy too, apparently," Alex nodded, watching as Crossfire pulled off the road, the others mirroring him behind, and the man hurried up to the fire truck expectantly, "You ok now?" Alex asked Jak casually.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. Can you…?"

"Not mention it to the others? Sure," Alex smiled.

Jak bobbed slightly in thanks, falling silent as the man continued to wait for someone to emerge out of Crossfire.

Meanwhile, Bill had jumped out of Freeway and was hurrying towards Alex, her eyes widening in shock when she saw the damage Jak had sustained, oblivious to the other man.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded as she reached Alex, "Why is Jak torn apart? And what happened to your chest?"

"Bill," Alex hissed, indicating the man who turned towards them at the sound of Bill's voice, resigning to the fact that for some reason, firemen weren't pouring out of the fire truck that had just arrived.

"Oh," she muttered quietly as he strode over.

"What's going on?" the man looked confused, "Why is no one leaving their vehicles?"

"Because there's no one in them, perhaps?" Jak spoke up, twisting his wheels pathetically in the gravel.

The man stared at the Mustang, "What?"

"Nothing. I said nothing. I'm silent," Jak said casually.

The man then looked at Alex questioningly, shock clear in his eyes, "What…?"

"Sorry, mate," Alex made a split second decision and suddenly punched the man square in the face, causing him to stumble backwards and collapse to the floor unconscious.

"Nice," Jak commented, sounding impressed.

"Oh you know, it's nothing," Alex grinned, shrugging.

"Alex, you just knocked that man out! I could have talked him into leaving, which you seemed in capable of!" Bill glared at him.

"Talked? You mean, you could have batted your eyelashes at him and lured him back to his car?" Alex huffed.

Bill just shot him another killer look before dropping to the ground at the man's side, checking he was ok.

"What a pest," Drag strode over to them, having returned to his humanoid form as soon as the man was out cold.

Both Jak and Alex nodded at the same time in agreement.

"I'm going to move him and his vehicle further up the road, so if he does come around, it'll look like we've left him and he's alone," Drag went over to the man, waiting for Bill to move out the way before he stooped down and carefully picked the man up, casually slinging him over his shoulder as he was unable to hold him his hand, which was too small. He then went over to the man's car, a BMW, and began to push it, against the parking brake, along the road the way they'd just come.

"Wait a sec, Drag," Alex hurried over to the BMW and opened the door, leaning in to disengage the brake that was making rather a horrendous noise, before jumping out again and slamming the door, "Now go ahead."

"Hmm, better," he nodded briefly and continued pushing the car along the road past the other Autobots as they returned to their natural state.

Pulse was the first to make his way over, dropping to his knees by Jak, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, "Let me guess, Sidelight."

"Good guess," Jak sighed, letting Pulse begin to run his fingers over him gently, inspecting him in the same fashion as a human doctor would check a patient over.

Crossfire, who was standing over to one side with Freeway and Traction, beckoned Alex and Bill over, letting Pulse deal with Jak in private.

"Explain what happened," Crossfire took up his usual kneeling position in order to see Alex better.

Alex shrugged, "We were just driving along, and this green Lotus Elise appeared out of nowhere. He overtook us, then stayed in front. Then the pink Cadillac El Dorado came up behind us, so that we were sandwiched between them. Then they both did their transforming thing, then started on us."

"A green car?" Crossfire frowned.

"His name's Roulette. Little short thing, smaller than Drag, seemed to only be interested in killing us. Sidelight said he was new, suppose he meant in the same way as Freeway?" Alex shrugged again.

"Hmm," Crossfire nodded, "It seems that the Decepticons are trying to recruit more to their cause. They must have definitely found something of importance, besides the Fusion in humans, which requires their attention."

Alex just nodded too, glancing at Bill who'd gone over to Freeway and was talking quietly with him. He huffed quietly and folded his arms again, looking away from them, almost, but not quite, jealous.

"Pulse will have Jak sorted out shortly, however I'm concerned about you," Crossfire raised a finger to point at Alex's chest.

"Oh, it's nothing," Alex shrugged dismissively.

"That's not true," Pulse commented from behind him.

Alex glanced over his shoulder at him, "It is, really."

"You have a broken rib, that could be a danger if it shifted and pierced a lung," he replied matter-of-factly.

Alex pulled a face, "Well I can't do anything about it. I'm not going to hospital. They can't even do anything."

"I could attempt to fix it," Pulse offered.

"You still haven't fixed my phone," Alex reminded him.

"Throw it here," Pulse paused in what he was doing, stretching out a hand that looked to be just a little longer than Alex's whole arm. Alex shrugged and pulled his cell from his pocket and threw it to him, it landing easily in the expanse of metal that made up his palm. Pulse then simply turned it over, studied it, then pressed his finger against it for a few seconds before throwing it back to Alex, who only just caught it.

"All done," Pulse shrugged, looking a little smug as Alex stared at his phone in disbelief, the screen now looking perfectly new.

"How…?"

"The advantage of being a medic who deals with patients made of similar parts to human technology," Pulse shrugged.

"What about me though? I'm not technology? And your hands are hardly small and delicate like some hot female doctors," Alex grinned slightly.

"I'm sorry about that, Alex," Pulse smiled at him briefly before turning his attention back to Jak, "I'll take a look in a minute."

"Sure, thanks," Alex nodded, looking back at Crossfire who had once again settled into one of his thoughtful musings that he seemed to dissolve into quite often. He decided to ignore Bill and Freeway with their pal-y chats, so casually wandered over to Traction who was absently fiddling with a few parts on his arm, looking rather bored.

Alex managed to get right up to him without him noticed, and was forced to casually rap his knuckles against his leg to get his attention.

"What?" he looked down, "Oh, Alex, sorry, I was just testing something out," he took a few steps back and crouched down so they could talk briefly.

"Testing something out?" Alex echoed, casually glancing at Bill to see if she was watching him. He could do pal-y too.

Traction followed his gaze but didn't comment on what he saw, instead focused on Alex's question, "Just seeing if I could make a few adjustments to my weapons system so that they don't overheat quickly in battle, allowing me to use the same one for a longer period of time."

"Oh," Alex blinked a few times.

Traction just smiled at him, "Don't worry. Even if you did understand weaponry, Earth's standard is no match to ours."

"I don't think we'd ever match this," Alex tapped Traction's leg, "Even our robots can't match you. You're too organic, while not actually being so."

Traction shrugged, "You're too organic, full stop. You may be able to imitate parts like us, such as your computers and televisions, however we can't imitate organic parts like you. The best we can do is create holograms."

"Detailed ones?" Alex looked interested.

Traction nodded, "If we're really in a tight spot in our vehicle forms, and humans come a knocking, we can project holographic drivers to speak through and bluff our way out of things."

"So you have a human face?" Alex smiled slightly.

"You could say that. I'll show you when we gear back up. I've been working on coming up with improvements for the holograms with Pulse, to make them more believable. Occasionally they flicker, which can give us away instantly."

"Still, that's cool," Alex nodded, "Real interesting."

"Suppose so," Traction shrugged, "We take it for granted."

"All that fancy tech," Alex nodded again, smiling.

"Only to you," Traction shrugged once more, "You're just not up to our level yet. And we can't really give you anything that would help you get to this level; it's just too dangerous. You humans would tear your world apart."

"Like you did?" Alex blurted before he could realise what he'd said.

Traction glanced away briefly, before nodding slowly as he looked back to Alex, "It may have aided in its destruction."

"Sorry," Alex muttered quickly.

"It's not your fault, don't worry about it," Traction shook his head, "Things happen."

"But still, sorry," he shrugged, "I know it doesn't really mean that much coming from me, but… Yeah."

Traction smiled, "I appreciate it."

Alex nodded and was about to try and steer the conversation away from the destruction of homes when Pulse appeared next to them, looking down at Alex expectantly.

"You've finished with Jak?" Alex asked, looking rather surprised as he glanced over to where Jak was rolling back and forth, looking once again brand new.

"Of course. It's nothing to deal with when you know what you're doing," Pulse shrugged, "Come over to one side with me."

Alex flicked a hand at Traction lazily in some kind of farewell wave, before following Pulse away from him and back over to Jak.

Alex smiled at Jak as he flashed his lights at him, "Looking good," Alex commented.

"As always," Jak's tone showed that had he been able to, he'd be smirking.

"Sit down on Jak's hood, Alex," Pulse instructed, bending down to them both. He obliged and shifted himself onto Jak's once holey bonnet.

"Don't you go scratching my paintwork with those studs in your jeans," Jak warned.

"I'll try not to," Alex let his arms drop from where he'd kept them folded over his chest to hide the majority of the damage.

"Hmm," Pulse peered at him, forcing Alex to lean back slightly as the Autobot's rather large head got dangerously close to him. As it was, his eyes must have been at least three inches in diameter.

Underneath him, Jak was sniggering quietly, obviously amused at how Alex slowly continued to lean back, eventually pressing himself flat against his hood.

"Do you mind if I just try something?" Pulse asked, looking up to Alex's face.

"Uh, sure, go ahead," he shrugged, trying not to sound too sceptical.

Pulse nodded and touched his leg lightly, closing his eyes in concentration. Alex frowned slightly, not entirely sure if he really should be trusting a medic who usually dealt with mechanical patients. He was going to protest when he suddenly felt a stabbing pain on one side of his chest, causing him to gasp loudly and jerk violently.

"Alex?" Jak asked quickly, "Are you ok?"

"It actually worked," Pulse muttered, removing his finger from Alex's leg, "Interesting."

"Pulse?" Jak turned on him, sounding a little angry as Alex gave a quiet moan, closing his eyes as he lay on Jak's hood.

"The Fusion in his blood," Pulse explained, "I didn't hurt him. It's that which is causing the pain, because it is actually managing to heal him. Obviously traces of the Fusion will be combined with the repairing bone, but otherwise, its managed to kick start his healing, focusing purely on the broken ribs, which are threatening to his life."

"How long is he going to be rolling around on me in pain?" Jak demanded.

"Not long. I think the pain will go straight away, as soon as the Fusion has done its job," Pulse nodded.

"Didn't think Fusion could do anything to humans, hey?"

"Neither did I. I was just trying to see if I could get it to do something," Pulse shrugged.

"Crossfire would so sell your limbs to a scrap yard if he found out you'd basically just experimented on Alex," Jak sounded irritated.

"Jak, listen, this is the only way to see if anything had happened. You know I'd never purposefully hurt anyone, Autobot or human," Pulse insisted.

Jak huffed quietly, "Fine."

"Just wait," Pulse reassured him.

Eventually Bill had noticed something was going on with Alex sprawled across Jak's hood and she came over, frowning in confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Alex is apparently being fixed," Jak shrugged, causing Alex to almost slide off him. He leapt forward quickly to shove him back on more securely, giving a quiet grunt.

"Fixed?" she looked to Pulse.

"I'm helping him, I swear. Don't look at me like that!" Pulse rolled his eyes, looking away from Bill's accusing glare.

"You're as bad as half the men I know," Bill muttered, "Human or not, all men are the same."

"All the more reason to get in with me, yeah?" Jak sidled closer to her, Alex suddenly forgotten.

"Sorry Mustang. I have standards," Bill frowned at him.

"Like Freeway?" Jak snorted.

"Like human standards," she shot back.

"Oh good," Alex groaned quietly from where he was still lying on Jak's hood, "I'm human."

"Barely," Bill muttered, leaning over him, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I feel fine suddenly," he sat up slowly, running a hand through his hair, "What the hell was that all about? It hurt like hell."

"That was Fusion at work," Pulse offered, shifting himself behind Bill.

"I thought it didn't affect humans at all?" Alex frowned.

"Well. Left alone it doesn't," Pulse looked away casually.

"Yeah, Pulse, you explain that," Jak revved his engine.

"Thank you, Hijack," Pulse smiled at him curtly before looking to Alex, "All I did was basically instruct it to mend your ribs. I wanted to know if it worked at all. If it hadn't of, then it would have been fine, nothing would have happened."

"And if had worked, but gone wrong?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

"You wouldn't have died, I swear it," Pulse said quickly, "I swear," he repeated, "I'd never put you in that kind of danger."

"Right," Alex just shrugged and glanced down to see that the bruising on his chest, while still there, had darkened slightly making it look a few days old rather than new, "Snazzy when it works though."

Pulse just nodded, looking a little uncomfortable as he seemed to realise that it could have gone wrong and he'd have got the blame.

Alex slid off Jak, causing him to make a hissing noise as he either felt, or heard, the studs in his jeans scraping across the paintwork.

"Opps, sorry Jak," Alex patted him lightly on the hood.

"You owe me, so much, Al. You owe me your girl, and I'm getting her to buff those scratches out while naked," Jak muttered.

"Excuse me?" Bill looked between Alex and Jak.

"Oh, Al is letting me have you for an hour for lending him a dollar," Jak shrugged, lazily.

"Buff you naked?!" Bill glared at Alex.

"Hey, I didn't say that!" he insisted.

"Nah, that's just me coming up with some good ways to spend the hour," Jak said casually.

"Perverted car," Bill looked at him with disgust.

"That means she likes me," Jak muttered quietly to Alex, but not so that Bill couldn't hear.

"You watch yourself Mustang. I'll get Freeway to beat you up," she scowled.

"That nooblet couldn't even beat me up. And I'm just stuck as a car!" Jak sniggered. Bill slapped him in general on the hood before stalking off, heading for Freeway who seemed to be watching her every move.

"I think she has the hots for me, totally," Jak sounded pleased with himself.

Alex blinked at Jak, "I think you need to work on reading girls, totally."

"Oh, I'm so slick," Jak pretended not to hear him, spinning his rear tires while he stayed stationary, causing smoke to begin to billow out from behind him.

"Quit that," Alex rolled his eyes. He turned away from Jak just in time to see Drag making his way back towards them, using the wheels on his feet to effortlessly glide towards them, much like those on rollerblades.

"Everyone's sorted now," Jak commented, "We'll be on our way now."

"I need to see Tract before we set off, he's going to show me something," Alex glanced across at the large black Autobot who had obviously gone back to fiddling with his weapons system when Pulse had taken Alex away.

"Oh yeah? What?" Jak asked nosily.

"Hologram."

"Man, I can show you that!"

"I'd rather not see you as a human, or at least what you'd like to look like. You'd probably be some busty blonde," Alex shook his head.

"No way, Al, I'll show you!"

Before Alex could protest any more, Jak had wound down his drivers window, and there was a bright flickering light, before a man just seemingly appeared in Jak's seat.

"Cool, huh?" the man grinned at Alex, running a hand through his dark brown and ruddy hair before slipping the orange tinted shades he was wearing down his nose and winking at him with ice blue eyes, which didn't look particularly human. Alex supposed they just mirrored the colour they'd be were he in his natural robotic state. It looked a little creepy too; he couldn't help but note. Alex shook his head in disbelief as he took in the man's slight spattering of facial hair, which consisted of light stubble that didn't look half bad in clean-shaven Alex's eyes. He was also wearing the kind of clothes Alex liked; a plain white t-shirt and jeans, nothing too fancy. He also looked like the kind of guy who could be a complete ass and get away with it by being charming. Jak apparently picked his face well.


	13. Imposter

Haven't updated this for a while . Even though I have thousands of words written :P Anyways, YOU, yes, YOU, the one looking at this, the one thinking about reading this word vomit below - I have a favour to ask of you. Even if you've not read the whole thing, if you've got an idea of the characters, could you make a comment with the name of your favourite character so far? I'm having a little thing with a friend over who's the most 'likable' of my Transformers guys, so this is me posing the questions, WHO'S YOUR FAVE?! :3 I'll lov you forever if you comment in order to answer :P I don't even need a reason, unless you want to say, a simple name is just as handy.

* * *

"Yeah, cool," Alex echoed, running a hand through his hair as he continued to study Jak's hologram self, looking for any flaws in anatomy or features.

"I'm damn hot, aren't I?" Jak leant an elbow on the window, the hologram flickering ever so slightly, "Think your girl would want me now?"

Alex hesitated before experimentally prodding Jak's holographic arm. He wasn't surprised when his finger passed straight through and all he wound up feeling was the cool metal of the Mustang's exterior.

"Ow," Jak smirked.

"Nah. She wouldn't want you. She can't kiss your pretty boy face," Alex shrugged lazily.

"Pretty boy? Look who that's coming from!" Jak snorted, the hologram slowly sliding out of focus before it flickered and disappeared.

"That all the flashing of your fancy human face you're going to do, hey? Realised I look better?" Alex nudged Jak.

"It's creepy. It feels so weird speaking through a human," Jak admitted.

"And speaking through a car…?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

"Different. One's organic, or is supposed to be, and the other's inorganic. Being inorganic is most natural and comfortable."

"You're just picky," Alex rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous. I'm a hot car. I'm a hot human. And I used to be one hell of hot, armed Autobot. Face it, Al, some guys just can't help looking as good as I do," Jak shrugged.

"Hey what? Where did you get that from? I'm not jealous of being made of metal!" Alex shoved him.

"Sure, Al, sure," Jak sounded far from convinced.

Alex pulled a face at Jak wandering away from him, heading for Traction who was just putting the finishing touches to his Ram form. However Drag cut him off before he could reach him, sliding to a halt in front of him.

"Oh hi," Alex looked up at him, "You sort out the guy and his bimmer?"

Drag nodded, "He's back in his car. It'll look like he passed out or fell asleep at the wheel. Apart from the broken nose you gave him."

"He can just have hit his face on the wheel," Alex shrugged, not feeling that sympathetic for the man.

Drag shrugged too, "Do you mind if I just talk to you briefly?"

"Sure thing," Alex nodded.

"Somewhere a little more private?"

"If you call the open expanse around us private, then go ahead and find somewhere," Alex smiled slightly.

Drag just nodded and began to lead Alex into the desert, a little way away from the others. He eventually stopped when they were out of what must be Autobot earshot and looked down at him, not needing to really crouch down due to his shorter height.

"Well?" Alex looked up at him expectantly.

Drag studied him briefly before the blades that were concealed under the armour on his arms slid out and pointed themselves at Alex. He just blinked and took a step back, eyeing up the blades, which looked distinctly different from any human swords. Alex supposed they had to be super special to slice through Cybertronian metal.

"Hey now Drag. I know we got off to a bad start, and I'm not your best buddy or anything, but isn't this a bit… Counter productive? Killing me and all when you're supposed to be protecting me?"

Drag just shrugged and advanced on him, "Who said I was killing. I'm just aiming to maim."

"Oh, that's so much better," Alex gave a nervous laugh, wondering if Drag had fried a wire in his brain.

"It is," Drag smiled at him.

"Oh… Uh… JAK!" Alex yelled, scrambling backwards as Drag lunged for him suddenly, "This is not fair," he muttered as he tripped over a scrubby bush and was forced to duck out the way of a blade, "I was only just almost killed! JAK!" he shouted again when the Mustang hadn't appeared instantly to save him from the crazed Autobot.

Alex swore under his breath as he once again was forced to dart out the way as Drag went for him, one of his blades burying itself in the ground beside him with surprising ease, the rough desert ground putting up little to no resistance.

Alex glanced at Drag as he pulled the blade free and began to sprint towards the Autobots, yelling their names and shouting for help. He didn't want to look behind him, but he could hear Drag right behind him, spurring him on.

Eventually he could just about make out Traction quickly transforming into his humanoid form and began to pound towards them, Crossfire hot on his heels.

Just as he heard Drag leap at him from behind, Crossfire threw himself over Alex, grabbing Drag around the waist before throwing him to one side. Alex swore loudly in shock of Crossfire flying over him and stumbled in his panic, almost crashing headlong into Traction's foot, which appeared in front of him.

"Get behind me and stay there," Traction ordered him, taking a defensive stance, one arm up, the gun primed and ready as it followed Drag who was trying to get away from Crossfire. Alex didn't need telling twice as he scrabbled behind Traction, taking shelter behind one of his legs while he watched Crossfire laying into Drag who was yelling at him to get off and to screw his head on properly.

Traction gave a low grumble, "That's not Drag."

"What?" Alex looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Drag would never dare attack a human. Never," Traction shook his head, still focused on Crossfire as he tried to pin the struggling Drag, or whoever it was, to the ground. Freeway had run over to try and help as much as he could, attempting to grab the dangerous flailing limbs of the Drag impostor before Crossway lost any limbs to the lethal blades.

"Why I can't just blast its pitiful head off is beyond me," Traction muttered, using his free hand to fiddle impatiently with his gun, "We know what it is."

"You do?" Alex looked surprised.

Traction nodded, waiting until he was sure that the faux Drag was completely restrained before indicating that Alex should follow him. He did so, albeit rather hesitantly, making sure that he stuck close to Traction in case someone else went for him.

As they approached Crossfire and Freeway, Pulse came to meet them, Jak and Bill holding back a little way.

"Is it what I think it is?" Crossfire looked up to Pulse while he kept a hand clamped around the fake Drag's neck, holding him against the ground with impressive strength.

"Looks that way," Pulse agreed, "Let me just run some tests before you dispose of it."

"You don't need to run any tests," Traction shook his head, "That thing is not Drag and we all know it."

"I suppose so," Pulse muttered, "But shouldn't we just make sure?"

"I think Traction is right, we do know this isn't Dragstar," Crossfire glanced at Pulse, "For a start, Dragstar isn't responding when we try to get in contact with him, which means that he's been, to coin the human term, knocked out."

"Let me kill it so that we can be on our way and recover Drag," Traction kept his gun trained on the still struggling impostor.

"What is it exactly?" Alex frowned, peering around Traction's leg.

He glanced down at him and sighed, "There's a Cybertronian who claims he's neither aligned with the Autobots, nor Decepticons. However, his way of dealing with humans is more towards the Decepticons manners than ours. He never reveals himself, however builds these drones to do his dirty work for him. He controls them, much like a remote controlled vehicle, and if I'm right in believing, he can probably hear and see us right now, due to feeds coming back from this drone. His name is Parody, and he tries to infiltrate both the Autobots and Decepticons through means of making drones, which imitates one of us. We've had him doing it a few times recently with various Autobots, but this is the first one to attack us. Parody must have heard about you through various means and decided he wants you for himself."

"How did he knock Drag out?" Alex continued to frown.

"Most likely used a tailored EMP," Traction shrugged, "It's easy enough to know how it affects us if you are actually on of us."

"And then this one just took his place?" Alex looked to the fake Drag who had finally fallen still, Parody on the other end of it obviously listening to them.

Traction nodded, "Easy enough to remain undetected. Unless he does something so obviously out of character like trying to kill you."

"Has anyone ever seen Parody?" Alex asked.

"When we first encountered one of these things," Crossfire spoke up, "We thought it was Parody himself, and that he just liked to pretend to be one of us then change vehicle form and appearance. So we thought after we'd killed the first one, it would be over. However since there seem to be so many of them popping up on both sides, and after a little studying by Pulse, we worked out that they're basically just roughly made shells who lack a Spark, which would give them sentient life. Instead, Parody controls them as his puppets."

"To answer your question more directly, no," Pulse smiled at Alex slightly, "No one's ever seen Parody. We have no idea where he is."

Alex nodded slowly, "Weirdo."

"You said it, Al," Jak agreed loudly, "Not as bad as Sidelight, mind. He's bat shit."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they knew each other," Traction rolled his eyes.

"Question," Bill cut in, "How do we know that any of you," she indicated all the Autobots, "Aren't these drone things?"

"Dude, ask me anything. No drone could answer just any questions," Jak shrugged.

"I'd be able to tell fairly quickly by running a quick check," Pulse gave a light shrug, "Certain things, such as the absence of a Spark, sets them apart from us by quite a long shot."

"How come you didn't pick up Drag's impostor then?" Bill asked.

"I had no reason to scan him," Pulse shrugged.

"Fair enough," Bill admitted.

"I'll check everyone now, but I'm sure it's safe," Pulse added.

"Will you kill the impostor now?" Freeway asked from where he was still absently holding onto the drone's arm, looking between it and Crossfire.

Crossfire nodded and glanced at Traction, who smirked slightly, "My pleasure. It's almost like taking Drag out. I'll save this moment for those times when I just wish Drag would shut up and be quiet."

Crossfire raised his eyebrows, looking unimpressed.

Traction just shrugged and Jak snorted loudly, "Better than killing the real deal," he commented.

Crossfire looked like he wanted to say something, but he just shook his head, knowing that it probably wouldn't really achieve anything. Instead he moved out the way, shifting his grip on the drone from its neck to his chest, keeping it pinned to the ground. Traction strode towards them then bent over it, lining up his gun with the drone's head.

"One day it'll be your head I'm taking off, Parody," Traction directed his threat the drone before simply firing his gun once, the bright blue flash of energy-like ammunition finding its mark and the Drag impostor fell still, it's head almost having completely melted and disintegrated from the blast.

"Something satisfying about that," Jak sounded like he enjoyed watching Drag's head being destroyed.

"I know what you mean," Traction smiled at him, his gun flipping backwards on his arm to be replaced with his hand.

Crossfire just rolled his eyes. It was obvious to Alex that while he reprimanded Drag, he knew that he would be wasting his time trying with Traction and Jak. He straightened up from the fake Drag, Freeway mirroring him, "Pulse, Traction, see if you can salvage some of its parts. I'd say Freeway and Jak could go looking for Drag, but right now we need to stay together. Just keep an eye on your charges. Reaper can take a look instead."

"You got it," Jak bobbed up and down, casually making his way across the rough ground towards Alex. Once he was close enough, Alex leant on his roof, watching as Pulse and Traction leant over the damaged drone, talking quietly to one another as they began to pull it apart.

"Think Drag's ok?" he asked, glancing down at Jak.

"He'll be fine. Most likely left exactly where Parody's drone ditched him. Which is probably just a little way into the desert. Reaper will find and revive him in an instant," Jak nodded.

"It's that easy?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

"It should be. Usually it isn't, but hey, one can hope, right?" Jak bounced up and down lazily.

"Fair enough," Alex shrugged, "Let's just hope we don't get attacked by anyone, or anything, again today."

"You sure seemed to have livened things up a bit," Jak agreed, "Before we met you, days were a little boring. Maybe the odd Decepticon here and there. But in the past three days, we've had, let me see, five Decepticons, one drone and Freeway dropping out of the sky. Can't say there's no action now."

"I'm glad I make things a little more fun?" Alex didn't quite know whether to take that as a compliment or not.

"Yeah, you do," Jak once again sounded like he was smirking. Alex casually tapped his fingers on Jak's roof as he watched Traction straightening up with what looked like an arm and begin to wander away with it, pulling a few bits out and tossing them aside.

"That looks so nice," Alex commented.

"It would look even more interesting if it was a human arm," Jak snorted.

"Disgusting," Alex pulled a face.

Jak just snorted again, bobbing up and down as Traction came over to the, still carrying the arm.

"Something interesting?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

"Not really. Rather basic," he dangled it down in front of him, "The bare bones, so to speak."

Alex eyed it up, frowning slightly, "If you say so. I wouldn't really know. Just looks like a load of twisted metal to me," he shrugged.

"Oh, thanks Alex," Jak pretended to be offended, "I wouldn't expect you, of all people, to understand."

Traction rolled his eyes at Jak, smiling at Alex, "Trust me then, this is simple. This is complex," he tapped his own arm, which did indeed look like a denser tangle of wires and metal to Alex's untrained eyes.

"I'll take your word for it," he nodded. Traction inclined his head before moving away from them, over to Crossfire, where he immediately began to talk, once again waving the arm around.

Alex watched in mild amusement as Pulse joined in the discussion, "I didn't think it was such a big thing?"

Jak shrugged, "Crossfire likes to know, whatever it is. And those two tend to get very enthusiastic when tech's involved."

"So I gathered," Alex nodded.

"We'll be on our way in a minute," Jak commented, "Just let those three fiddle around. Reaper's found Drag, by the way," he added casually.

Alex rolled his eyes again, "Oh yeah? Forgot to mention it earlier?"

"Nah, just didn't see the point in saying yet. Drag ain't happy, I can tell you that though"

"I bet," Alex smiled slightly.

"In amongst the cursing that he's loudly broadcasting to us all, I think he managed to get you a new shirt," he shrugged.

"Because Parody's drone happened to have one on him?" Alex stared at the Mustang.

Jak snorted, "No way. He found it in that nosey guy's car. Thought you might like it."

"He stole it?"

"Borrowed. Drag likes to think of it as borrowed," Jak sounded like he was grinning.

"I'm sure he does," Alex raised his eyebrows, "But I'm hardly complaining. It saves me from having to go on a shopping trip with you in amongst fighting Decepticons."

"Oh man, I was looking forward to that!" Jak sniggered.

"I'm sure you were," Alex smiled at him slightly, patting him on the roof.

"Right," he looked away from Jak as Crossfire spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to him, "Reaper and Drag are waiting up this road for us and Pulse and Traction have finished what they were doing. We'll move out in five minutes. If anyone has any objections, do voice them."

"You really think we'd object to getting a move on?" Jak snorted, "We're getting bored here, all this action then suddenly stopping. _Boring_."

Crossfire just shook his head at Jak, smiling ever so slightly, before he began to make his way back towards the road, the others following. Freeway paused by Bill to fold back into his Jeep form to give her a lift before speeding after the others to catch up.

Alex gave a slightly irritated grunted before opening Jak's door and clambering in, "Soften the suspension. I'm not going to be shook up like last time we went off road, ok?"

"Sure thing, Al," Jak slammed the door for him before setting off, purposefully driving slowly and carefully, making sure that he avoided every small dip or rock. Alex rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to comment, since this was preferable to being thrown about the cabin.

Eventually they reached the road where everyone else was waiting for them; now back in their vehicle forms. Bill rolled her eyes and shook her head as Jak pulled along side her and Freeway, revving his engine suggestively. Alex slapped the dash and growled a quiet warning, before Crossfire began to lead them off, once again in a perfect single file.

Alex sighed loudly and shuffled himself into a more comfortable position in the drivers seat, glad that he didn't have to worry about actually driving. He closed his eyes contently, planning on getting a little shuteye, since he was feeling rather exhausted from the earlier events, and hadn't really slept properly for a couple of days. He felt himself just about to doze off, when Jak suddenly turned his music on, causing it to blare out around him, almost deafening him.

He moaned loudly in irritation and opened his eyes, beginning to beat Jak's steering wheel, "Switch it off, you moron! Some of us need sleep!"

"It's too quiet! And you'll probably just snore, which means it'll be annoying, so I'll drown it out with music," Jak insisted.

"I can't actually get to sleep with your music on. Switch it off. Wait until I'm snoring. _Then_ you can switch it on if you really want. Please Jak, I'm dead on my feet," Alex ran a hand over his face.

"At least you have feet, right?" Jak grudgingly turned the music off, "And you can sleep too. I'd love an excuse to just shut down for a few hours ever now and then."

"I bet the others would love you to shut down for a while too," Alex commented, closing his eyes again, "Peace and quiet."

"Oh you shut up," Jak muttered, wiggling slightly on the road just enough to shift Alex in his seat and receive another slap on the wheel in response.

"Sleeping, starting now," Alex grunted, repositioning himself so that he could rest his head on the seatbelt just above his left shoulder.

Jak sighed loudly and fell silent, giving in to Alex's need for sleep, though occasionally he mumbled something quietly to himself, just to break the monotony of silence. Thankful for the quiet, Alex managed to drift off fairly quickly, and was only vaguely aware of stopping briefly when they came across Drag and Reaper. After that, Alex just dissolved into a dream world, full of manically laughing evil pink cars and huge metal claws ripping other vehicles to shreds.


	14. Grumpy Git

A little under four hours later and Alex finally came to after a lot of twitching and groaning, having been roused by Jak's music slowly creeping up in volume.

"Finally," Jak commented, "About time you woke up. I was starting to get bored of your constant pained moaning. It gets wearing after the first hour or so."

"That's what happens when you're dreaming about mad Decepticons," Alex yawned loudly, stretching out as much as the car's cabin would allow him.

"I'm sure that was a fun experience for you," Jak bobbed up and down.

Alex just rolled his eyes, "You bet," he grunted, "We there yet?"

"Basically," Jak continued to bob up and down a little longer. Alex sighed and peered out the window into the half-light. A quick glance at the clock on Jak's dash told him that it was a little past nine in the evening, yet it was still fairly light outside, allowing Alex to see that the desert had almost come to an end, being replaced with sparse trees and high rocks and cliffs that were a distinctive orangey-red in colour.

"Where are we?" Alex asked eventually, his face still pressed up against the window, watching as the rocks and trees flew past.

"Southern Utah. Bryce Canyon National Park. You know the place?"

"Vaguely. Haven't been here before though," Alex nodded.

"Apparently it's pretty. And there are things called hoodoos, whatever they are," Jak snorted.

"Hoodoos? Where do you get this stuff from?" Alex frowned.

"Interwebs. I can access it when and wherever I want," he sounded smug.

"Oh, so you're not really all that clever," Alex rubbed his eyes absently, "You just quote from Wikipedia or something?"

"Everyone knows Wiki can be unreliable. I'm actually finding information direct from the National Park website, if you must know," Jak huffed.

"Swish swish, fancy," Alex commented, still staring out the window, admiring the various rock formations that he could see in the fading light, "Do I get to stay in a hotel tonight?"

"Apparently there's one right on the entrance to the proper National Park site, so I suppose so. I can try and clear it with Crossfire if you want, for both you and Bill. Separate rooms of course," he added.

"Like hell," Alex scowled.

Jak sniggered, "Ok, one room. It's cheaper that way anyway. Just don't you get any ideas."

Alex growled at him, folding his arms.

Jak continued to sound rather amused as he drifted slightly in the convoy, "Crossfire, Pulse and Freeway are going to meet up with the other Autobots straight away, but Tract, Drag and I will stay with you and Bill. Reaper will do the usual and float around watching the sky."

"Thank God for a bed, seriously," Alex sighed, "No offence to your seats or anything, but I look forward to a bed. Even if the Decepticons come and try to kill us, don't wake me up."

"I'll remember that," Jak muttered, continuing to lazily drift this way and that.

"Well, I mean, if we're in danger, then wake me up," Alex clarified quickly, half wondering if Jak really wouldn't wake him up if they were attacked.

"Yeah, I will, don't you worry. I'm not that stupid," Jak flashed his blinkers, and while Alex couldn't see them, he knew he was doing so, since the two little green lights on the dash flashed with them.

"Didn't say you were," Alex relaxed back in his seat, "And I know that you're thinking about turning this into a little bicker. Don't even try it."

"Aw Al, come on, man. Don't be so boring. I need to amuse myself. I can only ram Tract up the backside so many time before he puts a dent in my hood," Jak whined.

"I'm so glad we're nearly there," Alex sighed dramatically.

"Fed up with me already?" Jak sniggered, "Almost three days together. Think of the years we may be together. Hey, who knows, I can even pose as your car after the Decepticons get lost. Then we can be together _forever_."

"Oh God, no," Alex groaned, hiding his face in his hands, "The horror!"

"Love you too, Al."

"More or less than Bill?"

"She's hot. I love her body. But I love all of you," Jak adopted a soppy tone, "You make me feel complete."

"Stop it, before I hurl on your leather."

"Oh, that's so sweet, Al, you don't have to," Jak continued.

"Jak!" Alex thwacked the dash, even though he knew it didn't really achieve anything.

"I like it when you beat me like that, honey," Jak snorted.

"I hate you," Alex wound down the window, and before Jak could stop him, he'd stuck his head out, yelling out to Traction who was just in front of them, "Traction, would you please kill Jak for me!"

"Stop being such a pathetic baby, Alex!" Bill's voice came from where Freeway was trailing behind them.

He just ignored her and sat back in his seat, just in time to see Traction slam his break lights on , causing Jak to simply career into his backend with a sickening crunch.

"Traction!" Jak yelled angrily as the Ram casually appeared to shake himself off and carry on his way, virtually no marks on his paintwork. Alex didn't care that he nearly cracked his head open again when Jak hit Traction, too busy laughing immaturely at Jak.

"You are going down, Alex," Jak warned, "When you least expect it, you're going to be a mark on the pavement."

"Like you'd get a chance to do that," Alex ran a hand over his face, grinning, "I think _you'd_ be the mark on the pavement."

"I'd like to see you try," Jak growled, revving his engine.

"I'll just ask Traction to take you down. He seems pretty good at that so far," Alex stifled another stream of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, you laugh it up, human. You wait," Jak grumbled.

Alex shook his head, still rather amused at the simple action that wound Jak up so much. He ignored Jak as he dissolved into irritated mutterings about his paintwork and what he was going to do to Traction when he had the chance. Alex just continued to smile as he turned his attention back to watching the scenery though Jak's window

Eventually as Jak finally ceased to grumble and moan, they turned off the road they'd been on for a fair while, following a large sign that pointed to Bryce Canyon National Park, as well as the hotel Jak had mentioned being advertised underneath it as being the next turning on the right.

They didn't have to go far before they reached the hotel, the lights blindingly bright in the rapidly disappearing light, showing it to look a little like a motel, just with a large central lobby, which appeared to have both a general store as well as a shop that sold gifts to tourists, most likely at ridiculous prices. Hopefully they'd have food Alex could stock up on, maybe even a few t-shirts. And beer. How Alex craved alcohol all of a sudden.

Up ahead of them, Crossfire and Pulse pulled off the road, while Traction and Drag in front of them turned into the hotel. Jak followed them, almost clipping Traction's rear wing, obviously on purpose, as he swung around them into a parking space.

Behind them, Freeway pulled over behind Pulse and let Bill jump out, before the three vehicles moved off again, simply carrying on into the dark, a single bright light in the sky above them trailing after them, suggesting Reaper would follow them for now.

Once parked, Jak let Alex out of him without a word and he jumped out, patting Jak on the roof, "No hard feelings, buddy?"

"Yeah, sure, sure," Jak muttered, though he didn't sound as bitter as he had a few minutes earlier.

Alex smiled at him and shut the door before casually sauntering over to where Bill was waiting at the lobby entrance, watching Drag and Traction parking up beside Jak.

Bill didn't bother to greet him and just waved a hand at him in general, "Clothes, Alex? As lovely as your chest is, put it away."

He blushed, frowned then looked down, cursing loudly as he remembered his lack of shirt. Darting quickly back over to the parked Autobots, he went over to Drag, tapping on the window, "You have a shirt for me, yeah? Oh, and I hope you're feeling better after earlier," he added.

Drag appeared to be ignoring him for a little while, until he finally opened his driver's door, revealing a few shirts piled on his seat.

"You are a lifesaver," Alex smiled at him and leant in, grabbing one of the shirts and quickly tugged it on. He'd barely got out of the way before Drag slammed his door shut, narrowly missing catching Alex.

"Hey," Alex scowled at him, "Grumpy git."

There was another pause before suddenly the Aston Martin's alarm went off, the horn blaring, lights flashing, drawing all surrounding attention to the car, and subsequently Alex. A good number of people walking around the hotel site glanced his way, either tutting quietly or looking distinctly unimpressed. To make it even worse, Alex began to hammer on Drag's window, hissing at him angrily to shut up.

Bill looked like she wanted to intervene, however decided against it, turning away, running a hand through her hair as she intently studied a hanging basket of various brightly coloured flowers next to her.

Eventually someone who looked very much like an armed hotel security guard casually wandered up to Alex who now had his face pressed against Drag's window, the alarm still blaring.

"Sir?" he came to a halt next to Alex.

He detached his face from the glass and looked up, "Oh… Uh, hi."

"Is this your car?" the man asked.

"Uh. Yeah. I locked my keys in it and can't get them out now," Alex glanced at Jak, then Traction, wondering if they were yelling internally at Drag for drawing attention to them. He sure hoped they were. He didn't really like the fact that he looked like he was trying to break into an Aston Martin. He'd already broken into Drag once, as it was.

"Wouldn't it have been more productive to request assistance in the lobby rather than try to break into the car, sir?" the security guard raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Probably," Alex admitted, knowing he looked oh so guilty and sounded extremely lame.

"I'm going to have to escort you to the front desk, sir. To check if this car is in fact yours as you claim it is," the security guard indicated the entrance to the lobby, next to where Bill was standing, looking around her in mild interest.

"I'm not even a registered guest. Yet," Alex added before even realising that he'd just managed to turn the hole he'd been digging for himself into a giant open mine. At least, he thought, he was wearing a shirt now. It could have been worse.

Or so he thought, until he heard, through all the racket his alarm was making, Drag click his parking brake off and begin to casually roll back down the slight slope they were on, straight into a rather large and ornate bush with a resounding _crunch_.

"Ok, now I didn't do that!" Alex insisted before the guard could say anything. The man just stared at Alex before taking his arm and beginning to pull him forcefully towards Bill and the lobby entrance.

Bill glanced at Alex briefly before once again hesitating, however this time she decided to act and she quickly jumped forward, blocking the guard's path.

"Oh, hello there," she smiled at him, casually flicking her hair over her shoulder, "I see you've found my… Husband," she said the word slightly too quickly so that it blurred into something almost unintelligible, "Has he managed to get the keys yet?"

"Ma'am?" the guard paused, frowning.

"The keys in our," she glanced at Drag briefly, "Vantage."

"DBS," Alex corrected her.

"Oh, of course," she shrugged, "Well, I managed to lock the keys in the car and sent him out to get them. Apparently he hasn't?" she blinked innocently at the guard.

He shook his head, looking a little stunned by Bill, "Your car also just rolled back into the front border, ma'am."

"What? Oh, damn, I forgot the brake," she shook her head before suddenly frowning, shoving a hand in her jeans pockets, rooting around a little before pulling out a set of keys Alex guessed belonged to her BMW she'd left God knows where in Las Vegas, "Well look what I just found! Apparently they weren't in the car. Did you even try the handle, darling?" she looked at Alex.

Alex blinked and then slowly shook his head, "I… No I didn't. Well that was stupid of me. I should have tried that."

The guard frowned, trying to get a good look at the keys Bill was holding rather tightly, trying to hide the BMW insignia on the sleek black design, "Well, ma'am, if you could please remove your car from the flower boarder?" he reluctantly released his grip on Alex's arm.

"Of course, straight away," she nodded, grabbing Alex's hand before hurrying across the car park to Drag in the bushes. Once she reached him, she fumbled with the cars, pretending to unlock him, Drag thankfully playing his part and falling silent, his blinkers flashing once in unison as if Bill had indeed unlocked him.

"You yell at him," Bill pushed Alex towards the Aston Martin.

"Thank you," Alex rolled his eyes and yanked open the driver's door, sliding into the seat with a sigh. He grunted quietly as he pulled the door shut behind him and prodded the steering wheel in front of him, "Seriously, that was stupid and irritating, Drag. I know you obviously have some serious attitude problems, but that's a sure fire way to get me into some serious trouble. Want me to be taken away from you guys? Wait. Don't answer that. You want me to be taken away from you guys and then _killed_? All because of you?"

Drag didn't verbally respond, but did start his engine and begin to creep up the slope slowly back into the parking space he'd been in. Bill purposefully began to fuss over the back of the car as he pulled out of the bushes, trying to keep up appearances for the guard watching them, despite the fact there wasn't a mark to be seen on Drag's pristine backside.


	15. All The Good Things In Life

This really isn't well chaptered at all... Apologies! I never write with chapters, and trying to chop it up so that it fits = not flowing/good.

And people, keep telling me your favourite characters. I _really _appreciated it, more than you could probably imagine.

Enjoy (and ignore any spelling/grammar mistakes, I'm always coming across them, no matter what I do).

* * *

Once Drag had parked himself neatly back between Traction and Jak again, Alex clambered out of him and casually wandered over to Jak, aware that the guard was still watching him. He probably half expected Alex to start banging on the Mustang too, and admittedly, Alex was tempted to. Jak would no doubt put up a good performance; that was a cert.

Alex pretended to admire Jak, bending down to look at his rather large and flashy alloys, "I hope you yelled at Drag," he muttered quietly.

"Oh, man. That was some stunt he pulled there," Jak muttered, sounding as if he was unsure as to whether be amused or angry, "Something I'd do. But he really had no reason to do it. So yeah, we yelled at him. Crossfire too. He knows how to put Drag in his place, and Drag listens."

"I think he just likes to rub me up the wrong way," Alex rolled his eyes.

"I think he feels like you like to rub _him_ up the wrong way," Jak gave a little shrug, bobbing up and down very slightly.

"What? When the hell did I-?"

"I didn't say he was right for thinking that. It's just his screwed way of viewing humans."

"For an Autobot, he sure seems more aligned towards the Decepticons," Alex muttered.

"He cares about humans, even if he doesn't show it. I just think something happened, or whatever, in regard to humans."

"Maybe my brother made him loose all hope in humanity," Alex snorted quietly.

"As likely as that seems, I don't think it was that reason," Jak sounded like he was smirking.

"I'm sure you'll get a reason out of him soon enough," Alex straightened up.

"I'm sure I will. Talent of mine, getting information," Jak casually twisted his front wheels back and forth a few times.

Alex nodded, "We'll probably be back in a second, we'll get a room, and by the looks of it, we park out in front of it."

"Well I'm not going anywhere. Not with mister creepy ass guard eyeing us all up. Because we are suspicious cars, of a suspicious nature," Jak sniggered.

Alex smiled and rapped his knuckles on his roof good-naturedly before wandering over to Bill and taking her arm, heading for the lobby, straight past the guard watching them both closely.

"You got a credit card, right?" Alex asked as they made their way into the lobby, which resembled and old bunkhouse; wood clad walls, a stone fireplace and various hunting trophies scatter around above their heads, ranging from bears to elk to mountain goats.

"Yes, I do. Tasteful decor," Bill commented as she walked over to the front desk where a foreign couple seemed to be arguing with one of the women working there.

"Totally," Alex nodded in agreement, pulling a face at the cougar placed above the desk, its glazed eyes boring into him. It also looked like it might fall down on top of them at any minute, which only added to the creepy effect. He cringed and looked around him before looking back at Bill who'd taken out her purse and pulled out a credit card, "You get the room. I'll be back in a bit."

"Sure," she muttered absently.

Alex made to walk off before he suddenly grabbed her purse, "Yonk!" he grinned before legging it out of the lobby, heading to a shop he'd spotted to the left of the desk, down a little hall.

"Oh for the love of-. Alex!" Bill snapped angrily, but he didn't hear her, since he'd skipped merrily into the shop and was blissfully ignorant of her threatening him under her breath.

Alex grinned gleefully to himself as he casually began to peruse the shelves of the shop he'd entered, which appeared to be selling various Native American style art, ranging from paintings to pots to jewellery. Nothing really caught his eye, but it wasn't trinkets he was after all. He needed food and beer. Oh and clothes. But that he could do without if food came along.

After a little while of wandering in circles, Alex found an opening into yet another shop, this one far larger and full of different items. He once again saw cabinets full of jewellery, however he also spotted a rack of heavy saddle clothes and a few western saddles, suggesting this was much of a general store. On one side of the large shop were typical tourist gifts, such as postcards, pencils, rubbers, t-shirts and hats. He gravitated towards them slowly before glancing to his right, spotting yet another opening which appeared to lead into a small food shop, similar to the ones that sprung up at gas stations or truck stops. The weak pull of the clothes broke instantly and he skittered through a group of rowdy large tourists and darted into the shop, grabbing a basket, which he promptly began to fill with various foodstuffs.

He didn't pay any attention to the prices, deciding that it could all be Bill's treat as he casually grabbed a six pack of beers and shoved them in the basket, which was already full of various cakes, biscuits, crisps and apples. All the best kind of food that would keep him going through the hardship, or so he reasoned. If Bill wanted something a little healthier, then she could just do her own shopping, and while she was at it, she could buy him a couple more shirts. He couldn't be bothered to go clothes shopping.

Once his basket was so full that he was struggling to lift it, he hefted it over to the till, pushing it towards the cashier with a grin.

The woman frowned at him slightly, but didn't say anything, instead just began to pass his items through the till before shoving them haphazardly into a plastic bag.

Alex took the opportunity to prod around in Bill's purse, pulling out with a look of mild interest a crisp fifty-dollar bill. She may only be young, but her job as an up and coming actress come model was obviously paying her well. He waved the money around experimentally, most likely never having held such a large sum of money in his hand, before he reluctantly handed it to the woman at the till who was watching him with a look of distaste.

As soon as the change was in his hand, he shoved it into the purse, which in turn was forced into a pocket, before snatching up the food-laden bag, casually wandering back towards the lobby to find Bill.

She was leaning on the counter, running her hands through her hair, looking rather exasperated as she tried to reason with the man behind the desk she was talking to.

"No, no," Alex could hear her now, "You must have two single beds!"

"Sorry ma'am," the man shook his head, "Only double bedded rooms are left available."

"Is there any kind of pull out bed?" Bill sighed, running a hand over her face.

"I did mention there wasn't before," the man smiled apologetically.

"Fine, fine," Bill muttered, "Give me a double room then."

"Yes ma'am," he looked down at his computer, beginning to tap things into it.

Alex took it upon himself to saunter over to Bill right then, casually leaning against her as well as they desk. She grunted in annoyance and shoved him away, not looking impressed.

"What's up?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Stupid rooms," she muttered, suddenly lunging for what he thought was his crotch. He yelped in surprise and tried to leap backwards, however her hand just slipped into his pocket, groping around for her purse.

"Be careful with what you're grabbing!" Alex squirmed suddenly, trying to claw at her arm to get her to remove her hand.

"That was not your-.!" Bill began to protest but was cut off.

"It was!" Alex hissed, "Hand out now!"

"Well if it was, it's very unimpressive," she scowled and turned her back on him as the man began to talk to her again.

Alex pulled a face at her back, muttering under his breath, "It's damned impressive, I'll have you know."

If she heard him, Bill ignored him, too busy signing various documents and handing over plastic money to pay him any attention. Alex just shoved his hands in his pockets, shuffling his feet in an attempt to get comfortable after she'd been rummaging around.

Eventually Bill straightened up from the desk and moved over to one side, fumbling with a few sheets of paper and a little card holding envelope that contained two key cards for the room that she had just booked for the night.

"All done?" Alex asked, moving over to her.

She nodded, "Not what I wanted though."

"What d'ya mean?" he frowned.

"They only had rooms with double beds. No twin singles," she muttered, taking out one of the key cards and handing it to him.

"Cosy," Alex grinned at her as he took the key, knowing that Jak would fully approve.

"Not exactly what I was thinking," Bill sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You were thinking more?" Alex couldn't help the excited edge creeping into his tone.

"Alex no!" Bill looked horrified, "Don't!"

"Oh…" he muttered, suddenly looking extremely crestfallen.

Bill stared at him before shaking her head, muttering something quietly under her breath that Alex didn't quite catch, "Right," she sighed eventually, "Did you get some food?"

"Uh, yeah," Alex offered her the bag. She leant over it and peered around inside for a little while before straightening up, rolling her eyes.

"I'd like to see you live off this for even a few days," Bill muttered, "You basically just have litres of Bud, enough Lays to last a year, and hundreds of Twinkies."

"Chocolate Twinkies," he corrected, "They're lovely."

"They're disgusting," Bill shook her head.

"Nah, I like the way that as you bite into them all the white creamy stuff comes out," Alex smirked.

"Why am I sharing a room with you?" Bill groaned, running a hand over her face, "I might just go and sleep in Traction's flatbed."

"I won't kill you," Alex smirked, "Come on, it's getting late. We need to get the guys before checking out our nice cosy room," he took her arm again and began to lead her out of the lobby, ignoring her weak protests to get off her.

Out in the parking lot, Alex was relived to find the security guard appeared to have disappeared, as well as the three Autobots in the same positions he'd left them. He'd had a feeling that he might find Jak and Drag locked together in a car fight, but thankfully, it didn't seem to have happened.

Alex detached himself from Bill and went over to Jak straight away, casually flicking a crinkled leaf off his hood, before opening the driver's door. He glanced over at Bill who was watching him with raised eyebrows, so he just shrugged, "Take Drag or Traction."

She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, going over to Drag. Alex looked away from her and slid into the Mustang, leaning across to put his food purchases on the seat next to him.

Jak shut the door for him and started up the engine, "So, room and food, yeah?"

"Yup," Alex sat back in his seat, "Great food, but Bill's not pleased."

"Why not?" Jak began to roll forward slowly, waiting for Alex to tell him where to go.

"Beer and chips," Alex smirked, "All the good things in life."

"If you say so," Jak sniggered, "Where to?"

"Uh," Alex pulled the key out of his pocket and looked at the number on it, "We would be in the Ponderosa Lodge, room number seven one five three. Hope we're on the bottom floor of this motel style building, so I can stare out the window at you."

"I hope you are too," Jak snorted again in amusement, "I also hope that you have see through curtains so that I can see your lady friend changing through them."

Alex scowled and pummelled the steering wheel, "Oh yeah? Well I get to share a bed with her! In your face. Or grill. Whichever is more applicable."

"Oh whoppie doo," Jak muttered, sounding rather jealous as he began to move off, turning left from his parking space and trundling along slowly towards a gas station over to one side.

Alex folded his arms smugly, glancing behind them as Drag, then Traction, began to follow them. He let Jak slowly make his way around the gas station towards a large block-like and wooden building, rows of doors along the bottom and the top, parking bays lining the front of it. He casually leant across to the plastic bag and pulled out a bottle of beer, looking around him expectantly, "You don't happen to have a bottle opener, do you?"

"Do I look like I have one in my back pocket?" had Jak been able to, he'd have rolled his eyes.

"Well you are some super advanced robot species. I would have though a bottle opener would have come as standard," Alex grinned.

"Maybe it would have if we had bottles back home?" Jak rolled his cabin as he shrugged.

"True, true," Alex nodded, looking around again briefly before leaning forward to the central part of the Mustang. He mused quietly to himself before suddenly pushing the edge of the bottle cap into the CD player's slot, beginning to lever it up and down.

"Hey, hey! What are you doing?" Jak swerved slightly in shock, narrowly missing a passing car, "Cut that out!"

"Be quiet and hang on a second, this is working," Alex muttered.

"You'll break my CD player!"

"It's fine. Your interior isn't cheap metal and plastic like normal cars, you're hardcore Autobot metal," Alex twisted the bottle slightly.

"Well, yeah, I am actually," Jak sounded rather proud suddenly.

Alex smirked, giving the bottle a final jerk and the cap popped free, clattering down into the passenger's foot well.

"You clean that out," Jak told him quickly, "I don't want that rattling around."

"Sure, sure," Alex took a swig from the bottle before sighing contently, "Much better."

"I'm sure it is. My poor interior," Jak muttered quietly, finally coming to a halt in a parking bay directly opposite a door, which sported the number one five and three, "Now get out. Take the bottle cap with you."

Alex grinned, leaning across to grab the cap from the floor, before picking up his food bag too, "See you in the morning."

"I'll be watching you," Jak commented, opening his door.

"Don't be so creepy," Alex slid from the seat, jumping out the way suddenly as Traction nearly ploughed into him as he slid into the space next to Jak. He flashed his lights briefly in what Alex guessed must have been an apology. He patted the Ram's hood, took another sip of his beer, then glanced over Jak to see Bill getting out of Drag, muttering quietly and rapidly to him as she did so.

Alex raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything as she walked over to him, indicating the door, "You going to open it then?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," Alex quickly moved over to the door and slid the card into the lock, waiting a few seconds before pulling it out slowly. There was a click and a green light flashed a few times, letting them know that access was granted. Alex pushed down on the handle and shoved the door open, grimacing slightly as he heard it creak and groan under just a little pressure.

"Secure," he heard Jak mutter quietly behind him just as he walked into the room, sniffing slightly as he looked around, before turning his attention to draining his beer. Bill shut the door behind them and paused too as she took in the room.

It was of a fairly good size, with simple off white walls with a few portraits of men on horseback or the surrounding countryside. The large double bed was placed in the middle of the right-hand wall, it's garish green, orange and yellow covers the brightest thing in the room. Two simple bedside tables flanked each side, and Alex couldn't help but wonder if they were just cardboard painted as wood, since they looked so flimsy. Opposite the bed was a small fridge encased in some kind of wooden cabinet, a microwave on top of that. Beside the makeshift kitchen was the small and rather boring TV on a long chest of draws that spanned most of the left wall. On the furthest wall, there was a single sink with a large mirror in front of it. Alex couldn't help but preen a little as he caught sight of his reflection, casually flicking his hair out of his face and striking a pose.


	16. Human Relationships

N/B - This bit is... I don't know. Just a break from the Autobots? (or something I just wrote for my friend, since I'm borrowing Bill from her, techincally xD) I promise action is on the way. Action and a death that still haunts me to this very day ;_; xD;

* * *

Bill made an unimpressed noise and shook her head, walking across the room to peer into the bathroom that was tucked in the far corner of the room, "This will do," she announced as she moved back over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, "Apart from the sleeping arrangements of course."

"Ah, it'll be all good," Alex threw himself on the bed next to her, beer still in hand, nearly causing her to be bounced off and go flying across the room.

"Alex!" she snapped, thwacking him hard in the stomach, causing him to grunt loudly and jerk violently, "Serves you right," she added.

"No fair," he groaned, rubbing his stomach with one hand while he sipped at the dregs remaining in the beer bottle. Once it was empty, he stretched across to the nearest table and put it down carefully, then proceeded to stretch out on the bed, trying to push Bill further over to her side of the bed.

Again, he received a fist in the stomach.

He grunted in pain, barely hesitating slightly before he launched himself on top of her, both of them tumbling off the bed in a tangle of limbs, Bill managing to yell at Alex at the same time. He ignored her trying to struggle and push him off her, instead he pinned her to the floor by her arms, which were up by her head, while he straddled her to keep her still.

"Get off me Alexander," she growled at him, glaring furiously up at him.

"No chance Bill…ander, yeah, Billander," Alex frowned slightly, then returned to looking determined quickly.

"That's not my name, genius," she scowled.

"It is now," he smirked at her.

"Get off me now," she continued to glare at him.

"Make me," he shrugged.

"Do you want my knee to connect with your rather pathetic manhood?" she raised her eyebrows mockingly.

"Had a good feel, did you? That how you can call it pathetic?" Alex mirrored her expression.

She quickly returned to scowling, "I didn't grab it on purpose! Your jeans have stupidly deep and wide pockets!"

"Your purse was in the other pocket. I would have thought you'd have seen it. You know. The smaller bulge," he replied coolly.

Bill appeared to colour ever so slightly, though from anger or embarrassment, Alex couldn't tell, "I'm sorry I didn't have time to decide which great big lump was what!"

"Great big? Now you're saying it's big?" Alex smirked again.

"Shut up, you!" she tried to struggle again, attempting to pull her arms free.

"I'm shutting up," he refused to let her go, and suddenly, without any warning, leant down to her and kissed her hard on the lips.

Bill barely managed to gasp in surprise due to his lips crushing hers, but she went limp, no longer struggling or offering up any resistance. She didn't know what to do as Alex continued to kiss her, his eyes almost completely closed, his body pressed close to her, so she just lay there, eyes wide in shock, letting him do as he wanted.

Eventually Alex was forced to pull away, looking a little flushed and out of breath, panting ever so lightly. He grinned at her, looking rather exhilarated.

Bill didn't know what to say, completely speechless by his sudden action. So she just lay there, blinking at him.

Of course, she'd been kissed many times, and not just on the lips, but coming from Alex, it was seemingly completely different and so very, very confusing.

"Bill?" Alex's smile slowly slipped away, being replaced by a frown when she didn't respond, and he quickly got off her, looking at her worriedly as if he might have some how caused her some pain when he'd lain on her.

She pushed herself up slowly into a sitting position and looked at Alex, shaking her head slightly.

"I… Oh… Uh…" Alex stuttered, not quite sure what to say.

She shook her head for a few seconds more, before suddenly lashing out, slapping him hard in the face, before scrambling to her feet and running to the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind her, the sound of the bolt being pulled across echoing surprisingly loudly around the room.

Alex rocked back on his heels, putting a hand to his face where she'd slapped him, before muttering a quiet, "Ouch."

He just stayed where he was, staring vaguely at the white wall in front of him, which seemed to be swallowing him whole, before he finally realised there were lights flashing on and off repeatedly outside. He staggered to his feet and even though he'd only had one beer, he moved unsteadily over to the door, opened it and simply stumbled out.

"Al, you ok?" Jak hissed, switching his lights off quickly, having been the one flicking them on and off.

Alex just shrugged and wandered over to him. Jak opened his door quickly, letting Alex slump into the drivers seat before sealing him into the cabin, away from the world and Bill who may well have been sobbing in the bathroom, Alex couldn't quite have been sure.

"What's up?" Jak asked after a few minutes of silence, when he'd been expecting Alex to gush out everything that had gone on.

"Who said something was up?" Alex muttered.

"Generally the talking from inside going silent, followed by a loud noise that resembled a good spanking, or slapping, then you getting into me like you're a zombie… Well, to me, that seems like something is wrong. But hey, I could be wrong. Alien from another planet an' all."

"Bill hit me," Alex grunted.

"I'm hardly surprised. She beats you up quite a bit," Jak shrugged.

"I kissed her. And she slapped me."

Jak made a sound that resembled a quick exhalation of air, "Ouch."

"It did hurt. Yes," Alex muttered.

"And what, may I enquire, possessed you to kiss her?" Jak asked casually.

"It seemed the right thing to do at that moment," he shrugged innocently.

"Which was?"

"Lying on top of her on the floor."

"I won't ask how you got into that position. Where's Bill now?"

"She locked herself in the bathroom."

"Oh, interesting," Jak mused, "Could be bad, could be good."

"Since when did you know anything about _human _relationships?" Alex huffed.

"I pick things up. Some websites I stray onto are too good to ignore."

Alex just grunted in response and hunched up in the seat, putting his feet on the edge of it so that he could draw his knees up to his chest. Jak made a slightly strangled noise that seemed to be fighting the urge to tell Alex to keep his feet off his upholstery, but quickly turned it into him clearing his nonexistent throat, "Well. I don't know what you can really do. Just pretend nothing happened? Go back in there; get into bed, sleep? Let Bill sort herself out. She might be a little confused or scared, but even so, if she wants to leave at any time, we're here, so we can help. Drag or Tract can take her home if she wants."

"I don't want to have scared her away. Not when she hardly flinches talking to giant robots!" Alex muttered.

"How about we do a trade over? Get Freeway back and send Drag off to replace him? She might feel better if she could talk to him, or if she's desperate sleep in him."

"I don't know," Alex mumbled, resting his chin on his knees.

"We'll do that. And that way we get rid of Drag too, since he's in one of his crazy irritating moods," Jak decided.

"Well ok," Alex shrugged.

"And you're going back inside," Jak added.

"I want to sleep here," he muttered.

"Tough luck, you've got a nice warm bed in that room, get back in there. Go to sleep. Things will be better in the morning," Jak told him.

"That's what people always say. Then it's not. It's always worse."

"Alex. I will forcefully remove you from me if you don't get out in five seconds. I'm counting. Now. Five."

"Jak, please, I don't want to go back in there."

"Four."

"Seeing her upset will kill me!"

"Three."

"She won't want to share the bed with me, I'm supposed to give it up to her."

"Two."

"I'm supposed to be a gentleman!"

"Try to be a man first. One."

"Fine, fine!" Alex quickly opened the door and scrambled out, running a hand over his face.

"That's my boy," Jak let his door swing out a little more so that it imitated patting Alex on the backside, "Run along now."

Alex muttered something under his breath but began to trudge back to the room slowly, the door opening easily for him since it had only been left on the latch. Which was a good thing, since he'd left his key on the bedside table. He shut the door behind him once he'd edged into the room and looked around briefly.

Bill seemed to have gone quiet in the bathroom, so he made his way over to the extra external sink where he simply splashed his face with a handful of cold water, which was rather soothing on his smarting cheek. He rubbed his face dry fairly quickly before going back over to the bed, where he sat down and kicked off his now rather sandy and messed up skate shoes that had probably never seen so much action. He then pulled off his 'new' shirt and tossed it over to one side. He began to unbuckle his belt, but paused, thinking things over. Normally he slept in his underwear, but with Bill sharing a bed maybe it wasn't the… No. She most likely wouldn't share the bed with him anyway, not after how she'd reacted. So he continued to undo his belt, then slipped out of his jeans, throwing them across the room too. He tugged at his short, white and rather tight boxer briefs before pulling the covers on the bed free from where they'd been tucked in neatly, then slipped under the sheet, resting his head back on one of the overly squishy pillows. He grunted quietly in protest when the pillow tried to suffocate him and eventually just shoved it to one side, deciding to just sleep without a pillow.

It didn't take too long for Alex to drift off, though he did half think that he missed the sound of Jak's engine and music lulling him to sleep. But the covers drawn up around his neck and the past few days crazy events were just as good at sending him to sleep, and eventually he was sound asleep, snoring lightly.

Bill lost track of time as she sat in the bathroom, on the edge of the grimy white bathtub, her face in her hands as things tumbled around her head. She couldn't think straight, everything bouncing all over the place, refusing to stay for a moment to allow her to come to a rational and well-thought out outcome. But nothing came to her, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, and it was driving her insane. Tears of frustration and confusion kept slipping down her cheeks, no matter how many times she angrily tried to wipe them away.

She never got this worked up over anything, it was stupid and she knew it. She'd had many a boyfriend, and probably just as many casual flings too, so she shouldn't be getting so panicked over a simple kiss. It was ridiculous.

Steeling herself, she eventually rose to her feet and moved over to the mirror above the sink to check herself out. She rubbed her eyes a few times, sniffed a couple more times, then ran a hand through her hair.

That would have to do.

She then unlocked the door and put her hand on the door handle, hesitated for what seemed like half an hour, then finally pushed her way out of the bathroom into the silent bedroom. At a quick glance, she couldn't see Alex, so she supposed he'd stayed outside with the Autobots, since she'd heard him go out there earlier.

Curious to see if she could spot him, she quietly padded over to the window and pulled back the curtain ever so slightly, starting slightly in surprise when she saw that Drag had been replaced by a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler.

"Freeway," she muttered under her breath, sighing quietly as she remembered back to a brief conversation she'd had with him while they'd been driving.

As if he'd heard her, he flashed a single light, both winking and greeting her at the same time. If either Jak or Traction had noticed her, they didn't show any sign of having done so, so she smiled slightly, waving briefly at Freeway before she stepped back from the window and let the curtain fall back into place again.

Bill then turned back and was about to go over to the bed when she froze, realising that Alex was not in fact in Jak, but instead in the bed.

She was seized by a sudden urge to bolt for it, but it quickly vanished as her eyes fell on his peaceful face. His eyes were closed lightly, his mouth ever so slightly open and his hair a complete mess as usual, sticking up in places as well as covering up part of his face. She felt a sudden sensation in her stomach, as if she'd been hit in the gut, so she quickly looked away. But she couldn't distract herself for very long, and her gaze quickly gravitated back to him. She started slightly as he gave a low moan and shifted himself, the sheet covering him slipping down to his waist, exposing his bare torso.

Bill tensed slightly, suddenly wondering if he was naked under the sheets, but she could just about make out the waistband of his underwear, so she relaxed again.

She hesitated once again for a long while, before slipping her trainers off, kicking them to one side before creeping over to the side of the bed that Alex wasn't sprawled across and pulled back the covers then slipped under then carefully.

She'd paid for the room, so she'd sleep in the room, regardless of whether Alex was in the bed of not.

As she pulled the sheets over herself, she became acutely aware of the heat emanating from Alex's body, which was so close to hers. As she shuffled herself into a comfortable position, her hand accidentally brushed Alex's back, causing him to give a quiet groan and roll over to face her.

Bill froze, unconsciously holding her breath too as she waited for Alex's eyes to open. However they didn't, and instead, he just shuffled closer to her with a sleepy sigh.

Bill couldn't help but smile as he tucked his chin into his chest and nuzzled his head into her chest, one of his hands briefly catching her shirt as he moved into yet another more comfortable position.

She hesitated slightly before stroking his hair for a little while, then moved herself closer to him. She then reached out, gently placing a hand on the cheek she'd slapped, before kissing him lightly on the lips.

He grunted quietly, but didn't wake, a smile briefly passing over his lips as she pulled away, something in his dreams obviously having amused him.

"I prefer you when you're asleep," Bill murmured quietly as she closed her eyes, finally letting herself drift to sleep with Alex so close to her.


	17. Women Are Strange Creatures

For the record, mainly in relation to the Primes stuff, this is kind of following on after the second movie, but not all the information that I use is from said movie. As I write, it becomes a mix of all continuities and my own. So if it makes no sense... Don't be surprised :P

* * *

When Alex awoke the next morning, he almost had a heart attack when he felt someone touching him. He flinched and resisted the urge to buck like a crazy bronco; instead he glanced over his shoulder to see who it was. For a moment Alex thought he was dreaming as he saw who was curled up behind him, but the feeling of Bill's arm hooked over his side with her hand resting on his lower stomach, felt as real as her hand on his cheek that previous night.

His twisting movement shifted Bill slightly, bringing her closer to him so that he face was resting against his bare back, while her hand slipped past his waistline into dangerous waters, causing him to exhale slowly, his eyes widening slightly.

Alex grunted quietly, trying to shift himself so that her hand wasn't in such a provocative position, since he was worried about what might happen if it stayed there too long or she moved it for herself. He was so preoccupied with trying to move her hand that he didn't even wonder why she had decided to get into bed with him after that nights little event.

When Bill suddenly sighed and gave a quiet yawn behind him, Alex froze quickly, instantly pretending to be asleep again, not wanting her to realise he'd become aware of her wrapped around him.

She seemed to yawn a few more times before giving another sigh, shuffling even closer to him as she hugged him tightly. She moved her hand out of Alex's crotch, though his relief was only short lived as she began to lazily trace patterns on his stomach and chest, making him want to squirm away from her. But he forced himself to keep still, even when her hand seemed to be gravitating lower again. As much as he'd love her to continue this treatment forever, he was beginning to get rather uncomfortable and he really didn't want to get embarrassed, which was bound to happen regardless, due to his choice of underwear.

Bill sighed again, sounding rather content, and her hand once again passed below Alex's waistband. He tried to not make a sound, biting his tongue as hard as he could while Bill's hand wandered.

He heard Bill give a quiet giggle before he felt her hand brushing the area he preferred her to keep away from, and as he screwed up his face in attempt to stay quiet, he couldn't help but wonder if Bill was the kind of girl to get in with guys, just because she could. It really seemed like that now, especially since she'd seemed upset last night. For her to be fiddling with him while he supposedly slept… Well that didn't really fit with her getting so worked up because he kissed her.

Eventually Alex couldn't take it anymore and he purposefully stretched out, giving a low groan, pretending to wake up. Bill didn't waste any time in pulling away from him and slipping out of the bed quickly, hurrying over to the sink to make it look like she was just washing. Alex made sure he spent a little longer stretching out across the bed, until he finally pushed himself into a sitting position, kicking the sheets away from him as he rubbed his eyes blearily, yawning once again.

Bill kept her back to him, continuing to wash her face as slowly as she could, obviously waiting for Alex to notice her and be the first to say something.

After a little while, he thought he should stop pretending not to notice her, so slipped out of bed and padded towards her, before suddenly stopping, with a look of surprise on his face, his hands going to cover his crotch, "Oh, Bill… Hi…" he tried to sound unsure.

Bill glanced at him briefly, looking genuinely anxious. Alex had to remind himself that she was a rather accomplished actress after all.

"I'm sorry about last night," Alex muttered, shrugging, "I shouldn't have done it."

Bill shrugged too, "It's ok."

"Were you ok last night? Where did you sleep?" he asked casually.

"I was fine, and I…" she hesitated slightly, looking half glad that Alex hadn't apparently realised she'd shared his bed, "I slept out in Freeway."

"Oh, well, sorry," Alex muttered again, resisting the urge to yell liar at her. Apparently her little morning session of 'feel up Alex' was to be kept her own secret.

"It's ok," she repeated, "Just forget about it?"

Alex nodded, "Yeah, sure."

"We've got other things to worry about," Bill turned his attention back to washing her face, grabbing a towel to rub herself down with.

"Suppose so," Alex nodded, padding over to the window, picking up jeans and shirt in the process. He pulled back the curtains only to be blinded by the low sun reflecting of Jak's overly shiny windshield. He grunted in irritation and put his arm up to act as some protection while he checked that the three Autobots appeared to be ok.

Alex could vaguely hear Jak sniggering, no doubt it being in regard to standing there in his underwear, so he just gave him the middle finger and turned away, beginning to pull his jeans on.

Bill had vanished into the main bathroom, allowing Alex to relax a little as he dressed himself, his mind slowly turning over possible reasons for Bill not only sneaking into bed with him last night and lying about it, but also her unrestrained and rather forward wandering hand. He'd most likely tell Jak, who would offer up some crazy, yet strangely useful advise. Which wasn't at all weird coming from an alien robot.

Whatever happened, he was sure that talking to Jak, or maybe even Traction, would sort it out, so for that reason he could think of other things. Such as wondering how Crossfire's meeting up with the other Autobots had got on. It probably had gone fine and he supposed they'd be heading into the park today to meet up with them. Even more giant robots that could accidentally step on him. Good thing he could just cower in Jak if need be.

Eventually he was fully dressed and relatively washed; face clean and shaven, jeans on, shirt done up and rather dirty shoes on. If things kept going the way they were he'd need a new outfit every week, he couldn't help but conclude as he looked down at his jeans, which suddenly seemed rather threadbare to say the least.

He was just going over to the mirror once again to preen his hair when Bill emerged from the main bathroom looking perfect as usual and ready to go.

"Are you sorted?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him as he leant closer to the mirror in order to flick individual hairs into place.

"Just a second," Alex muttered, sounding deep in concentration.

"The moment you step outside a wind will mess your hair up again," she grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the mirror ignoring his weak protests. She dragged him to the door, opened it, then shoved him out.

"Looking good Al, better with clothes if I must say," Jak commented as soon as Alex was out of the room.

"Be quiet," Alex grumbled, "Normal cars don't talk. If anyone hears you…"

"You can just come up with some farfetched insane sounding lie, I'm sure," Jak sounded like he was smirking.

"Like hell," Alex rolled his eyes, glancing behind him for Bill who'd gone back into the room and was checking things over, obviously making sure they'd got everything. Not that there was actually anything besides themselves and their clothes to forget. How unprepared they were to be gallivanting all over the United States of America with a team of disguised robots. Maybe they would eventually have to stop off at a mall, to Jak's delight no doubt.

Finally she reappeared and shut the door behind her, "I'll hand the keys in, and you guys can meet me at the lobby," she didn't wait for a response and strode off across the asphalt.

"I find it amusing how your women work," Jak commented, "Ever changing. Who'd have thought something happened last night."

"Don't even attempt to understand them. You'll blow a gasket," Alex sighed, opening Jak's door and slid into the driver's seat.

"Be worth it," Jak shut the door behind him and started up his engine, beginning to roll backwards straightaway out of the space he had occupied.

Beside them Freeway and Traction mirrored him, getting ready to follow him to the parking in front of the lobby where they'd been last night.

Freeway was typically all over the place, his attention obviously not where it should be as he seemed to look around him in interest as he drove, meaning his wheels tended to lead him in the direction he was observing. Traction did his best to bring up the rear, every so often having to bump the Jeep up the backside as if to remind him what he was doing and to pay attention.

Jak was content just to bounce along slowly until they reached the short-term parking where he pulled up perfectly into a space and killed his engine.

Alex looked around as the other two came to a halt beside them and sighed quietly, "Wished we were actually here for a vacation. They've got horse riding and ATV stuff."

"I don't get why humans keep other organic life forms for friendship purposes," Jak mused, "And become so emotionally attached to them."

"You mean pets? You don't get why we have pets?" Alex frowned.

"Well, our equivalent might be like keeping a sentient exhaust or a spark plug for company. Sounds kinda cute actually," Jak gave a little shrug.

"I think our idea of pets is slightly different," Alex muttered, "If they didn't want to be domesticated I'm sure they could turn against us. I'd like to see a spark plug take down all you Autobots."

"It could happen, I suppose," Jak sounded thoughtful.

"Remind me never to go on vacation to Cybertron," Alex rolled his eyes, "If that's what your wildlife is like."

"No wildlife there anymore, just us. Well. When it wasn't falling apart like it is now, there were some things floating around. It's virtually inhabitable due to the war pulling it apart. That's why the Decepticons are after Energon; so they can rebuild it as their own. I understand where they're coming from, but to pick Earth goes against the original seven Primes' decrees not to harm other sentient beings. "

"Seven Primes?" Alex echoed vaguely.

"Our versions of your forefathers, but much more fore, like the first ever. The first Cybertronians to come into existence. Six of them sacrificed themselves way back when to basically protect your planet, however the last one was alive until a few years back when Optimus, a Prime descendant, despatched him with some kick ass moves. Primes are born not made, and they're kind of special but I won't go into the detail. We normal Cybertronians are made. Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons thought he could become a Prime, but we recently learnt that that's not possible at all," Jak explained.

"Oh. Cool," Alex responded vaguely.

"You didn't understand any of that did you?" Jak sounded mildly amused.

"Not really. I'm sure the knowledge that you have given me will one day actually be useful though. I think it went in though," Alex smiled, leaning forward on the steering wheel.

"Got to fill that empty tiny human brain of yours," he replied cheerfully.

"Gee, thanks," Alex rolled his eyes.

"I'm good with the compliments, y'see?" Jak sniggered.

"Oh I see," Alex sighed, straightening up slightly in the seat when he saw Bill emerge from the lobby.

"I could say something amusing there about things sitting up a little straighter but I'll hold back," Jak snorted loudly.

"I don't think you need to say it now you said that," Alex bashed a fist on the dash, "Get out of all those disgusting websites you must be browsing. Look at something more normal. Like how to speak like a proper human."

"I do talk like a proper human, I'll have you know, I learnt from the best," Jak insisted.

"Some random rapper?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Thought as much," Alex shook his head and wounded down the Mustang's window, leaning out to talk to Bill, "All good?"

"Of course," she nodded as she clambered into Freeway next to them, "We're on our way again, yes?"

"Think so," Alex nodded.

"Tract's taking the lead," Jak chipped in, "Newb in the middle and me at the rear."

"Don't be so mean about him," Bill tapped Freeways door lightly, "He's great."

"But I'm even better, girl," Jak shrugged.

"Whatever, creepy Mustang," Bill looked at him with distaste as Freeway started his engine.

"Lovely girl, isn't she?" Jak sighed as he rolled up his window.

"Totally," Alex frowned slightly at him, looking away as the other two Autobots began to pull away, Bill sitting comfortably at Freeway's wheel.

"Today's plan of actions consists of us driving into the park, meeting up with Crossfire and the others, then once again meeting up with the band of Autobots with Decepticon trouble. Easy enough, hopefully," Jak explained as he moved off too.

"No stopping off at the visitors centre?" Alex feigned upset.

"Maybe on the way back if you behave. It's basically an in and out route. Good in the sense that we can keep a look out for Decepticons, bad in every other sense. We could be trapped; the route out could get blocked… The bad list is endless."

"Sounds safe," Alex muttered.

"With us it's safer at least," Jak shrugged.

"True," he sighed, leaning against the window as they settled in on the road, which would take them into the National Park. Eventually Alex sat up a little, "What do we do about paying entrance? Isn't it something stupid like twenty-five dollars to get in one of these parks?"

"Check out the shiny hologram Pulse dealt out," Jak sounded smug, and a little flickering of light on the dash caught Alex's eye. He leant forward and peered at the badge suddenly seemingly stuck on the windscreen, which claimed that they were frequent visitors with an annual pass.

"Nice," Alex nodded in approval, "So we just drive on through?"

"Exactly," Jak agreed.

"The upside of being an Autobot?"

"Just one of the many perks."

"Sweet," Alex returned to leaning back on the window casually, watching the scenery blankly as he let his thoughts drift. Jak sensed that talking was over for now so turned his music on letting it fill the cabin and drown out the engine noise.


	18. The Other Team

Eventually they reached the entrance to the park and a small wooden cabin situated in the middle of the road, which widened slightly to accommodate it. In front of them, Traction, then Bill and Freeway passed through a barrier system with ease. Alex internally braced himself to be stopped, however the park ranger at the cabin simply looked at the annual pass and waved them on through.

"Easy for a change," Alex sighed in relief.

"You think the ranger was going to leap out and shoot you?" Jak sniggered.

"I wouldn't be damned surprised," Alex grumbled quietly.

"You're getting paranoid, Al."

"Well excuse me if I can't ever look at another car or uniformed person in the same way. Hell, I bet I'll even think coffee machines might leap at me at any minute," he ran a hand over his face.

"Yup, paranoid," Jak repeated.

Alex sighed loudly and pressed his face against the glass again, watching as trees flashed past rapidly, "How far until we meet up with the guys?"

"They're at the quietest, most sheltered place in the park. It's called Paria View. Most tourists don't bother going there because it's over shadowed by more popular areas and they're rather visit Bryce Point for the oh so pretty views. It's almost in the middle of the park, and off a little bit."

"How far is it?"

"'Bout six and a half miles. We'll be there in no time."

"Glad to hear it. There anything I should know about these 'bots before we meet up with them?" Alex sat back in the seat with another sigh.

"There're four of them. You've got Gasket. He's a rough and tumble kind of guy, into the same things as Pulse and Traction. He's a pretty good mechanic, even though his work is a little patchy. I think he's cool with humans, treats them well. Then there's Torque, like Drag but without the serious attitude problem. Smooth, sleek and snazzy. He's laidback and cool. Flywheel is big in a chunky sense, like Tract. He's a no-nonsense guy, and would happily go into a Decepticon stronghold guns a blazing. He'd probably come out unscathed too. And then there's Kickdown, my old buddy. We're good mates, known each other forever. But we got split up when we got to Earth and put in separate teams. Can't wait to see him again. There used to be a leader like Crossfire, however he was killed in battle recently. Overhaul was pretty impressive, to say the least. Shame he got torn apart," Jak sighed, "Stupid Decepticons."

Alex grimaced slightly, "Nice."

"That's one way of putting it. Apparently they're up against equals, in the sense that there are four Decepticons. I know of Redline, but the others, Manifold, Drophead and Crankshaft must be new recruits. They've been trying to get to something in the centre of Bryce Canyon, down in the basin, but the Autobots have been successful in keeping them at bay. They're not entirely sure what it is, so we're going to help them take a look, since we can help defend at the same time," Jak explained.

"Do you guys even need to talk when in your natural forms?" Alex raised his eyebrows, "You constantly know what's going on."

"Crossfire filled us in last night. Our internal com is extremely useful for sharing information whenever we want or need it," Jak gave a small shrug.

"Fancy walky-talkies," Alex grunted.

"That have a rather good range," Jak agreed.

"Like interstellar range?"

"And some," Jak bobbed up and down lightly.

Alex sighed and nodded, "Don't you share any of your technology with humans?"

"Not if we can help it. As Crossfire likes to say, your capacity for war coupled with your primitive and destructive methods would wipe you out. We're not going to help you do that."

"Says the one who's locked in a war lasting millions of years that's destroying your home planet."

"Learn from our mistakes," Jak shrugged, "Simple as that."

"Just saying it's a bit rich coming from you," Alex shrugged too.

"I guessed, but y'know. We don't want you going the same way as us. You've got a lot of developing to do."

"You tell that to some people, they'd say we're fine as we are now."

Jak snorted, "I'm sure Pulse, Crossfire, anyone of the older guys would tell you to take a good look at you."

"You've been around few more million years longer than us," Alex reminded him.

"Hence why you're a young species and have room to grow. You're currently in the rebellious teenage stage of life, wars left right and centre. Hopefully you'll age and mellow out nicely, more successfully so than us."

"Hopefully," Alex echoed, nodding in agreement, propping up an elbow on the narrow window edge before resting his chin in his palm, once again staring out the window blankly. He'd never really been one for car rides, finding them boring and uneventful, so staring out the window was about the best way he could think of amusing himself. Apart from talking to Jak of course.

He watched as pine-like trees flashed past them, the occasional gap in them revealing either an expanse of orange rock and sand, the occasional tourist group, or the feature that Bryce Canyon got its name for; the canyon.

Although nowhere near the size of the Grand Canyon, the shear numbers of rock features were what gave it its beauty. The formations that Jak had correctly named as hoodoos were both mysterious and magical as they rose out of the canyon floor like clusters of spears, all of varying shapes and sizes, the wind having carved them into what Alex could see when he caught the odd glimpse. The rock ranged from a deep red, close to the colour of Jak's paintwork, to vibrant shocking oranges as well as the odd flash of white and cream, all swirled together into the canyon to create an extremely bright, seemingly unnatural phenomenon.

Alex was tempted to get Jak to drop him off so that he could try walking one of the trails down into the canyon to get a better look at the strange formations, however he knew that there'd be no way he'd be let out of an Autobot's sight, especially with a lurking Decepticon presence. Maybe once things were cleared up he'd be allowed a little look. A walk with Bill perhaps, or maybe even one of the Autobots. He was sure they'd be dwarfed and hidden amongst the rock features. Shame that Jak wouldn't be able to make it down there in his car form, because Alex would have betted a fair amount of money that hiking with Jak would be a laugh, to say the least.

Lost in his daydream and absent thoughts, Alex barely realised that they'd finally come to a halt in a concealed car park, which he guessed was empty of tourists' vehicles despite the number of cars currently there. Including the Autobots of Crossfire's team, there were ten of them, and he supposed Reaper was up above them somewhere getting great views of the canyon, no doubt.

Four cars that made their number up to ten were parked neatly over to one side, a medium duty tow truck nose-to-nose with the large fire truck that was Crossfire, the two of them obviously talking to each other. The other three cars, a deep blue Chevrolet Tahoe, a Mitsubishi Eclipse a similar dull orange to the surrounding rocks and new style Dodge Challenger in a far brighter orange, with twin central black racing stripes, were parked in a line facing the entrance to the car park through, which Jak had just entered as the last one to get there.

Alex had only just managed to take in all the Autobots when the Challenger suddenly started forward, buckling and twisting as he folded like origami into his natural form and bounded across to Jak.

"Oh man, it's so good to see you!" the 'bot Alex guessed was Kickdown greeted Jak with an enthusiastic tone that only Jak himself could match, "We even wound up getting complementary vehicles forms. Us and our muscled rides, eh?" he grinned at Jak, bending down slightly from a height Alex estimated was eighteen foot.

Jak rocked back on his suspension and lifted his nose up to Kickdown, Alex grimacing slightly as he was forced backwards, "Right back at you. Long time no see."

"Four Earth years, if I'm not mistaken," Kickdown nodded, "You gonna ditch the human riding in you and get on up, yo?"

Jak's hood lowered a bit, and he gave a quiet grunting sound, "No can do, Kick. For a start, I can't 'ditch' the human; he's my responsibility, my friend and is extremely precious. And secondly I haven't been able to stand up for three years now. Broken," he added in an undertone.

Kickdown's rather animated face frowned then his blue optical eyes widened in shock, "No way Jak, no way."

"Yes way. Stuck like this. And Pulse can't do damned thing 'bout it," Jak dropped back down onto his wheels.

"Let Gasket have a go, he'll mend you up easily," Kickdown shook his head.

"I'm sure he'd have a go, but if Pulse can't do it in three years, Gasket can't do it in three minutes. I've had to resign to the fact that I'm gonna have to stay like this forever," Jak flicked his windscreen wipers on once, which imitated the shaking of Kickdown's head.

"Aw Jak," Kickdown shifted himself into a crouching position that made it easier for him to look directly at Jak, "That sucks, man."

"Don't I know it," Jak shrugged, "Suppose it's not too bad though. I do get the responsibility of looking after the human."

"I take it it's the special one that Crossfire told us about?"

"That's the one," Jak agreed, "Get on out Al, let Kick and the others check you out. Bill from Freeway too."

Alex pulled a face, not wanting to get out of the comfort of the Mustang to be scrutinised over like he had been with Crossfire's team, then Freeway.

"Saw that," Jak didn't waste anytime in commenting.

"Shut it," Alex grunted, opening the door before taking a deep breath and slipping out.

"Good boy," Jak praised him patronisingly, receiving Alex slamming his door a little harder than normal in response.

Alex stuck by Jak as Kickdown leant closer to him and eyed him up, "Not as scrawny as some humans," he commented, "Still fragile and easy to break though."

"He's relatively sturdy," Jak shrugged.

"He'd have to be in order to ride with you," Kickdown grinned as he continued to eye up Alex. Behind him, excluding Gasket - the tow truck talking to Crossfire - the other two Autobots Alex didn't know buckled and twisted into their natural forms to get a look at Alex. He couldn't help but feel a little like a freak show, and even when Bill shuffled over to him, he still didn't feel comfortable at being stared at.

The largest of the three Autobots who resembled Traction in a way eyed up Alex and now Bill before sniffing, or whatever his equivalent was, "That's Fusion alright."

Alex was violently reminded of Sidelight claiming he could smell it too and couldn't help but flinch and back himself up against Jak. Apparently some Cybertronions had good senses of smell.

"Don't freak the human out, Flywheel," Kickdown straightened up and gave him a light shove.

"I was merely making an observation," Flywheel frowned at him.

"It apparently scared the human," the other smaller Autobot, who was around the same size as Drag, commented.

"Hmm," Flywheel fell to eyeing up Bill instead.

"Does he have a name?" the smallest one asked.

"Of course he does, Torque," once again Kickdown shoved the other 'bot.

"You have to stop with that habit," Torque grumbled, brushing his arm down where Kickdown had touched him.

"You know he is standing right in front of you," Jak commented loudly, "He can hear you. Ask him, not us, for his name."

Alex shuffled slightly and looked down at his feet as the three sets of bright eyes once again looked down at him.

"Name then?" Torque prompted.

"Alex," he muttered, glancing up briefly at the smallest of the Autobots.

"Nice to meet you Alex," he nodded in greeting, "Your friend?"

"No Fusion there," Flywheel sniffed again.

"Cut that out," Kickdown grunted.

Bill frowned slightly and looked up at Torque, "I'm Bill. I'm just keeping Alex company."

Behind Alex, Jak snorted loudly and rocked back and forth in amusement. Both Alex and Bill turned to give him identical deadly looks.

Luckily they were both saved from being stared at by the other group of Autobots when Pulse and Traction came over to join them in their humanoid forms. Flywheel didn't hide the fact that he was now looking Traction over, his eyes lingering on the various weapons scattered his body as he sized him up. To Alex, they seemed reasonably similar, their heights and builds almost identical and their faces the only thing that were different, however upon closer inspection, it appeared that Traction had far more technology about his person than Flywheel. For this reason, the lesser equipped of the two adopted a jealous and slightly huffy expression as he looked away from Traction who, while looking rather smug, casually flexed one of his arms. Pulse cast him a sideways glance but didn't bother to say anything, his attention caught by Gasket and Crossfire converting out of their vehicle forms too and moving over to them.

Alex peered between Traction and Pulse, looking for Drag and Freeway who he spotted standing a little way off together. Freeway looked like he was trying to engage Drag in a conversation, but Drag had his arms folded across his metallic chest, looking like he was ignoring the younger Autobot in favour of watching the entrance to car park as if he expected Decepticons to turn up and join in the party.

"It's good to see everyone here," Crossfire spoke up, drawing Alex's attention away from the two youngest Autobots, "Apart for Reaper who, as ever, is keeping a look out from above," he looked down at Alex who was squinting up at him now, "Did you two have a nice sleep?"

"Uh…" Alex glanced at Bill then shrugged, "It was ok, I suppose."

"Good," Crossfire gave a short nod before addressing them all, "Today we plan to split into two groups in order to determine what the Decepticons are after in the canyon. We will have those on the rim who will act as a lookout and be first to engage if they do arrive, and then the group who will look for the thing of interest. The teams are decided by each Autobot's unique abilities. Those who stay up here will be myself, Gasket, Flywheel, Traction and Jak."

"Hey what?" Jak cut in, "You're putting me with the fighters? I'm hardly as big as you guys nor heavily armed!"

"I'd like to see you make your way down into the canyon on those wheels," Gasket flicked at finger in his direction.

Jak made a loud huffing noise, "Fine, whatever. I get to be the usual decoy then?"

Crossfire nodded, "Of course."

"You do it so well too, Jak," Drag sounded almost like he was jeering as he smirked at the Mustang.

"One day, I'm going to bust you up big time," Jak grumbled quietly, receiving a loud laugh from Drag in response.

Crossfire shot Drag a warning glance and he quickly quietened down, allowing his leader to continue to speak, "The rest of you, that is to say Pulse, Torque, Dragstar, Freeway and Kickdown will go into the canyon. As the smallest of us all, you'll find it easier to hide and blend in with the natural features. Reaper will also cover you from above to avoid unwanted drop ins."

"And us?" Alex spoke up.

"Hmm," Crossfire looked thoughtful, "I'm not sure whether to keep you away from what the Decepticons seek or not. You'd be safer in the canyon, however due to it being slightly more open."

"I'll stay with Freeway," Bill said stubbornly, "I know he's capable of looking after us."

"Very well. Alex, you can go with Torque, he will look after you to the best of his ability," Crossfire nodded.

"You hear that Torque," Jak twisted his wheels in his direction, "'To the best of your ability'. He isn't even allowed to trip over a rock and graze himself. You guard him the whole time. That goes for anyone else who even just touches Al."

Torque shrugged, turning his palms skyward, "Of course Hijack."

"Good," he gave a resolute bob of acknowledgement.

"Is everyone clear on what you're to do?" Crossfire looked around at the assembled Autobots.

"You did go over it quite a number of times," Kickdown rolled his eyes.

"For a reason," Gasket nodded.

"Good," Crossfire inclined his head, "Revert to your vehicle forms and prepare to move out as soon as you're ready."


	19. Long Way Down

All around Alex and Bill the Autobots stepped back, breaking the circle they'd formed and the graunching of metal and whirring of various parts filled their ears as the nine huge robots folded themselves down neatly into their various terrestrial forms.

After a few seconds everything was virtually silent again, apart from the quiet rumblings of the assortment of idling engines.

Jak moved forward from where he'd been beside Alex, heading towards Traction and Flywheel, "Be careful, hey Al?"

"Sure thing Jak," Alex nodded, feeling a little odd as he was separated from Jak after the past few days having been virtually surgically attached. He glanced at Bill who gave him a little smile as she turned and headed for Freeway. Alex then sighed quietly before heading towards the dull orange Mitsubishi, his door opening for him politely. With a last glance at Jak, Alex slid into the drivers seat and tried to get comfortable.

"It's been a while since I had a human passenger, so I apologise in advance for anything I may do that upsets you," Torque shut the door behind him.

"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Alex muttered sarcastically as he pulled the seatbelt on, his eyes wandering over the Eclipse's interior. He was barely able to hold back a little snort of amusement at the styling in the central console, where the CD player and twin air vents with the hazards button between them looked uncannily like a face.

"Something amusing?" Torque picked up on it regardless of how silent Alex had stayed.

"It's nothing," he shrugged casually, "Amusing little thought, that's all."

"No doubt," Torque replied plainly, allowing Alex to see what Jak had meant about Torque being a little like Drag. He continued to talk as he set off, following Pulse out of the car park and onto the road, the other two behind them, "If you're interested to know, we'll be entering the canyon from a little north of here, east of the furthest eastern tourist view point of the canyon. From there we will resume our natural forms and make our way down. If you and your friend have any difficulties, we will aid your decent. Then it's a short distance to the centre of Decepticon interest. Pulse will run checks with the assistance of Freeway while Dragstar and myself will keep a look out for any thing suspicious. There have been no Decepticon presences felt for the past twenty-four hours, however we have reason to believe they're planning something very soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they had increased their numbers in a similar way to us."

"It was five against four, right?" Alex asked.

"Until Overhaul was destroyed," Torque agreed, "The four Decepticons attacking are nothing special, however managed to catch him off guard. They're mainly inexperienced and reckless, only achieving a lucky shot here and there. They may be feeling confident after that, however I think they know they have no chance of retrieving what it is they desire without backup. Since Doomsday constantly tails Crossfire's team, we think that one or two of his may aid them against us. Hopefully he'll send more simpletons."

"Well from what I've seen of the Decepticons, they all appear to be simpletons," Alex rolled his eyes.

"Which have you had the displeasure of meeting?"

"Sidelight, Roulette who's a new one apparently, and Envoy. Envoy seemed to be the best out of them."

"Sidelight's insane. Roulette, I haven't heard of him. Envoy is blindly obedient. If Doomsday told him to rip his Spark out, he'd do it without a moment's hesitation. The ones you have to watch are Doomsday himself and Spectre. They're intelligent, devious and dangerous. Hazard is the most lethal, despite his stupidity. Anything that gets in his way is destroyed. There's a reason Doomsday's team is made up of these Decepticons," Torque explained.

"Jak's living proof that Hazard's dangerous," Alex muttered.

"Oh, so it was him that caused the damage. I had a suspicion it was him. I'm glad I didn't see Jak after Hazard had finished with him. That would undoubtedly have been rather messy. I severely hope, for all our sakes, that Hazard stays away from this canyon. The humans who control this area would loose their paid occupations, for he would most likely turn this canyon into a simple hole in the ground, just for the fun of it."

Alex grimaced, glancing out the window at the passing scenery, "Over destructive."

"That's just the way he is."

"You're not like that."

"We choose different paths, that's all."

"Shouldn't be a 'kill all humans' path," Alex grunted.

"There shouldn't be a 'destroy your home planet in a war between brothers' path either. But apparently there is," Torque muttered.

"Fair enough," Alex admitted with a sigh, turning his attention to the road they were on when Torque said no more, suggesting their brief conversation was over. In front of them Pulse was casually making his way along the road, when suddenly he turned off it, beginning to bounce along an unmarked, but obviously driven along track. Alex supposed the tire marks were from Torque and the others, so this must be the way they attempted to enter the canyon before being attacked by the Decepticons.

Torque turned off the road too, and Alex twisted around in the seat, trying to catch a glimpse of Drag who would no doubt be having a hard time trying to drive over the rough terrain, which was scattered with rocks. He wondered how much complaining he'd be broadcasting to any Autobots who were listening.

Alex eventually had to turn back to the road in front of him as Torque began to bounce all over the place, throwing him around the cabin. He braced himself by holding onto the door handle, one hand on the ceiling to stop himself from hitting his head, which seemed to have been happening a lot recently.

After a little while longer they finally slowed to a halt, the canyon appearing out of the trees they'd been traversing through. It seemed endless as it stretched out in front of them, and dangerously deep, even for an Autobot. Hoodoos rose up eerily around the edge of the canyon, however the central part of this twisted dead end was relatively clear and open.

"This is where you get out," Torque prompted, opening his door.

Alex nodded and slid from the seat back into the thick warm air. He glanced behind him as Bill clambered out of Freeway and hurried up to him.

"Any other time, this would be a nice place to come," she muttered, casting her gaze across the canyon.

"I agree," Alex nodded, glancing behind him briefly as he heard the Autobots begin to change back into their normal forms. He slowly edged towards the rim of the canyon and peered over the straight edge, looking down a drop so sheer it made his head spin. Hopefully there was a less direct route down.

"This is where I push you," Drag commented lazily as he came up behind him. Alex glanced over his shoulder and squinted up at Drag who was blinding him rather well as his shiny metal reflected the sun.

"And then that's where you get torn apart by the others for killing me," Alex responded equally as lazy.

Drag glared at him slightly before looking away, "Very well. If you can't take a joke…"

Alex rolled his eyes, and sighed, "You need to refine your idea of a joke. Talk to Jak maybe."

"I'll keep that in mind," Drag gave what looked like an attempt at a thin and humourless smile before moving away from him as Pulse and Kickdown came over. Even Pulse, as the largest of the five Autobots, appeared to be dwarfed in comparison with a nearby hoodoo piecing the sky.

"We're going to descend into the canyon now. Kickdown will lead the way down a known safe route, however loose rocks may cause problems. The first part will be the hardest due to the sheer drop, however it levels out into a slope that we can all move down easily. If you think you're going to fall, try not to take out anyone else as you do so," Pulse smiled, "Freeway will be the last to come down."

"So he can take out all of us as he slips," Drag muttered.

"I've told him to specifically aim for you, actually," Pulse continued to smile, "I will take the humans due to my size and ability to protect them if any of us do fall. If either of them slips free Kickdown will be prepared to catch them."

"I'd rather not fall, to be honest," Alex grunted.

"I won't let go of either you," Pulse looked down at him, "But we have to be prepared, just in case. Things happen. Right, so if everyone is ready?"

There was a murmuring of agreement and a few nods.

"Good," Pulse bent down and reached out a hand to Alex and Bill, "Climb up. Position yourself close to my shoulders and hold on tight."

Alex glanced at Bill and quickly motioned that she should go first, not particularly wanting to climb all over the Autobot. She gave a rather forced smile and walked onto Pulse's outstretched hand before clambering up his arm to his right shoulder. Once there, she eased herself down into a little gap, which was created by the bull bars of the Autobot's vehicle form behind bent across his chest. Pulse then offered Alex his other hand, and reluctantly Alex copied Bill's actions, climbing up before settling down behind the thick metal bars. Once they were both secure, Pulse straightened up carefully, moving his arms about him to ensure he wouldn't catch either of them by accident. When he was sure that everything was ok, he moved over to the edge of the canyon and peered down, causing Alex to give a quiet groan and close his eyes tightly.

"On your way, Kickdown," Pulse indicated that he should proceed.

"My pleasure," he grinned at Pulse before jumping off the edge, falling a little way before thrusting a hand into the side of the canyon where it buried itself into the rock and held him there. He then swung himself down a little further, having to move over to one side in order to avoid knocking over a few hoodoos.

"Drag and Torque," Pulse nodded at the two similarly small sized Autobots who both slid off the canyon edge together, beginning to follow an enthusiastic Kickdown towards the bottom.

"Hold on tight you two," Pulse muttered. Alex didn't need telling twice, and although he kept his eyes sealed tightly, he knew instantly when Pulse had jumped as a feeling of flying, and nausea, overwhelmed him. Both he and Bill were suddenly jarred violently when Pulse dug his hand into the side of the canyon and paused for a moment, the force of them coming to a sudden stop having almost dislodged them. They quickly readjusted themselves as Pulse before to climb down, using both previous holes in the rock from the other three Autobots, as well as making his own by digging his fingers into the rock face.

Above them, Freeway began to make his way down, not being adventurous and jumping, rather scrambling down as awkwardly as most likely possible. Occasionally his scrabbling hands dislodged a few lumps of rocks, and while they often missed Pulse, Drag often found himself being hit in the head. Since he couldn't do anything about it right that minute, he cussed out Freeway rather loudly, using an electronic dialect that neither Alex nor Bill could understand.

They continued their descent down into the canyon, occasionally able to walk, or slide, a little way down a sloping ledge, however they often struggled to avoid the closely packed hoodoos when they were forced to climb down. More than once an Autobot limb caught one and knocked a chunk out of it, and even once, Torque managed to stumble into one, demolishing it completely, almost setting off a domino effect across the whole canyon side.

Below them, Alex could see Kickdown had reached a point where the ground began to level off, and the cliff appeared to end. He waited a little while for Drag to reach him, before the two of them began to navigate their way down the slop carefully, occasionally grabbing hold of a hoodoo to when their feet threatened to disappear from underneath them.

Alex was just watching as Torque when he heard a distant whooshing noise, which rapidly increased in volume, as it appeared to get close.

"Alex!" Bill gasped loudly, drawing his attention to her, just as he caught sight of something streaking towards them, a plume of white smoke tailing behind it. He'd barely had a chance to register it when the missile hit home, striking Pulse directly in the shoulder right next to where Bill was clinging on for dear life.

Pulse grunted loudly in pain, his grip on the canyon wall slipping to such an extent that he very nearly toppled backwards. As it was, his right arm, damaged from the missile, after a mad attempt to keep its hold, dropped and fell loose and useless at his side. This caused him to lurch violently to his right while he tried to keep himself attached to the rock with his left hand. The violent movement very nearly displaced Alex, but he luckily managed to remain clinging to Pulse despite the angle they were currently at. However Bill was far less fortunate, and the sudden drop of Pulses arm, as well as very nearly being hit by the missile, and had managed to dislodge her from behind the protective bull bars.

She barely held back a scream as she tried to struggle back to safety, however hee movements only succeeded in loosening her grip even more.

Alex saw what was happening through the sudden explosion of chaos all around, and lunged across Pulse's chest for her, trying to grab onto her hands. However he was just about to wrap a hand around one of her arms when another missile missed, its target of Pulse yet again, careered into the rock above them, showering them large shards of rock. The tremor that rocked through Pulse was enough to finally loosen Bill's already pitiful grip, and Alex yelled out, hands vainly snatching at thin air as Bill fell free and plummeted towards the canyon floor, metres below them.

Pulse too tried to grab her, but his damaged arm was useless in attempting to stop her fall. It was too late for those on the bottom of the canyon to try and catch her, Torque being the nearest, but still too far to reach her in time.

But suddenly the next thing Alex knew, he saw a flash of yellow hurtle past him, managing to only just control his descent by carelessly crashing into the hoodoos that got in his way.

Freeway had seen what had happened from above them, and the moment Bill had lost her grip, he'd thrown himself valiantly from the cliff face after her. His weight far more than Bill's meant that he was able to gather speed much quicker than her, and therefore appeared to catch up with her falling form fairly easily and quickly. Yet it didn't seem to be fast enough for him to catch her and then save himself as there was a sudden crash, the sound of metal hitting rock, as Freeway hit the sloping bottom of the cliff, sending up a cloud of red dust that restricted Alex from being able to see what had happened to either of them.

Alex barely realised that he was repeatedly yelling Bill's name until Pulse finally told him to be quiet as he began to struggle down the cliff as quickly as he could with his damaged arm, no longer wanting to be an open target for their attacker who seemed to have ceased fire. As Pulse made his way downward, Alex strained to see through all the dust and was only just about able to make the shape of a sprawled Freeway on his back. He couldn't tell if he was still moving, but he could see the Autobots bright eyes still lit, even if a little dimmer than usual.

When Pulse finally reached the bottom, the other Autobots had ran back up to meet them and were crowded around Freeway, all trying to see if he was ok. Pulse staggered over to them, dropping to his knees briefly to let Alex slid off him before he straightened up and made his way over to the others, holding onto his arm in a similar fashion to humans when they also injured their shoulders. Alex hurried after him and squeezed between Kickdown's legs to get a better view.

Kickdown glanced down at him briefly, "Be careful, the Decepticon who just attacked us, Deadlock, could appear again at any moment. Be ready to take cover."

Alex just shrugged in response; too busy trying to see if he could see Bill.

Pulse crouched down beside Freeway and bent over him, "Freeway?" he asked, concern thick in his voice.

There was a moments pause before he received a response, "I got Bill…" Freeway muttered, lifting up an arm unsteadily from his chest to reveal Bill curled up and shaken in a concave part of his torso.

"Well done," Pulse nodded in approval, glancing at Alex as he ran forward from his shelter under Kickdown and simply clambered over the fallen Freeway to get to Bill.

"Bill?" he peered at her, "Are you ok?"

She groaned quietly and blinked open her eyes, looking at him in a slight daze, "Alex?"

"Are you hurt?" he asked, "Can you move?"

"I think I'm ok," she muttered absently.

"Good," Alex wrapped his arms around her and began to drag her as best as he could from Freeway. Pulse looked like he wanted to offer his assistance, however refrained from doing so, letting Alex determinedly haul her away from Freeway. Once they were away from him, Pulse set to running checks and quickly mending the odd part here and there, ignoring his own injury in favour of his patient's.

Alex slumped to the ground with Bill in his lap and he too began to check her over, looking for any broken bones or injuries despite his severe lack of medical experience. She looked ok, he thought, and she seemed to just be pale from shock. She appeared happy enough to cling onto him though, her arms clamped around his waist as if she thought she might fall again. Happy that she was physically sound, Alex took up stroking her hair soothingly, watching as Pulse repaired Freeway.

The three Autobots around them kept their eyes turned to the sky and Alex was sure he caught sight of Reaper patrolling high above them, looking for the menace who'd attacked them.


	20. A Local Colloquialism

It wasn't long later that Pulse finally straightened up from Freeway who cautiously pushed himself upright and looked around him while flexing his arms and legs experimentally. He'd been damaged fairly substantially, but not enough that Pulse couldn't patch him up to a level that he could engage an enemy in.

As Freeway staggered to his feet, Pulse check the other three for any injuries before tending to himself, leaning against a nearby hoodoo as he did so.

Freeway approached Alex and Bill, Kickdown taking a step backwards so that he could kneel down beside the two of them.

"Is she ok?" Freeway asked quietly.

Alex nodded, "I think so. Thanks to you."

Bill looked up from where she'd had her head resting against Alex's chest and smiled gratefully at Freeway, "Thank you. You are just as good as I told you, you were."

Had Freeway been able to blush he would have done so rather violently, but since he couldn't, he settled for a casual shrug as he straightened up to his full height rather proudly, "Well, you know. I have to protect humans. It's nothing special really. I just –."

He was cut off by Bill pulling away from Alex and moving over to him where she promptly wrapped her arms around his large leg (which was all she could reach), his knee about the same height as her shoulders, and she hugged him tightly, ignoring the feeling of hot metal against her skin.

"Oh…" Freeway muttered, glancing down at Bill. Alex rolled his eyes and stood up, making gestures with his arms to tell Freeway to at least attempt to hug her back. The Autobot hesitated before leaning down and carefully patting Bill awkwardly on the back.

"How sentimental," Drag commented from where he was standing, arms folded, "Sorry to break up this happy moment but Deadlock could attack us again at any moment. You know he's virtually silent in his approach."

"He could have phrased it slightly better, but Drag is otherwise correct," Pulse looked up from where he was tending to his shoulder, "We had better get to the site before we're attacked again. The others have seen no sign of the Decepticons, so Reaper is keeping the majority of his attention on our area."

"I take it that guy, Deadlock, was one of the ones previously attacking this area?" Alex asked.

Torque nodded, "One of them, yes. All these flying Decepticons are silent and deadly, as stupid as they are."

"Spectre specifically," Drag agreed, "Although there was once apparently a Decepticon who was worse than him. Even more dangerous. Apparently he racked up the most Autobot kills we'd ever reported in only a few days. He is, and hopefully was, deadly. But he was last heard of on Cybertron and since then, he hasn't been in the spotlight for some reason."

"Lets just say we're glad Megatron didn't recruit him to Earth," Kickdown shrugged.

"Agreed," Pulse nodded, straightening up before testing his arm, flexing it in various places while he kept a hand on the shoulder. It seemed to make a few creaking noises, but otherwise held.

"That hurt?" Alex frowned up at him.

"Only when it happened. I disconnected my pain receptors internally so as to ignore it. Now they're back online, it merely, how would you humans put it…? I suppose you'd say it aches," Pulse nodded.

Alex raised his eyebrows and nodded too, "Cool," he didn't know what else he could really say to something like that.

"I wouldn't say it's cool," Drag put it, "Rather, when repairing, the area becomes hot due to the friction and –."

"It's a local colloquialism, you tin can," Kickdown rolled his eyes, "He doesn't mean it in the literal sense."

Drag frowned slightly then glared at him, "Whatever."

"Let's carry on our way then," Pulse said before the two Autobots could begin to squabble.

"Lets," Kickdown smirked at Drag who continued to give him the Autobot equivalents of dirty looks.

Pulse looked down to Alex and Bill, who, while no longer hugging him, was sticking close to Freeway, "How would you two like to travel?"

"I'll carry her," Freeway offered quickly.

"If that's ok with her?" Pulse nodded.

"Of course it is," Bill put a hand on Freeway's leg.

"Alex?" Pulse looked at him.

"It's not far, right? I can walk," Alex shrugged.

"If that's your wish," the largest Autobot indicated that Torque and Kickdown should take the lead while Freeway bent down and allowed Bill to climb onto his shoulder. She looked a little pained as she did so, probably a few bruises or pulled muscles, however she didn't say anything, pretending nothing was wrong.

Alex watched her closely as Freeway set off with Drag close behind him. Pulse waited for him to begin to walk, however Alex decided that he'd be left behind at his current pace as Pulse took a stride forward that was rather large, so began to jog along regardless of the high temperatures in the bottom of the canyon.

Pulse strode along side him, not only wanting to keep an eye on him for protection purposes, but to make sure Alex didn't overexert himself. Pulse knew a little about the humans and the way they and their organic make up worked, therefore was conscious of how the heat may affect Alex.

They walked, or in Alex's case ran, as a group for a fair way, going up and down inclines, through forests made up of the strange skyward reaching hoodoos, as well as cavernous gullies that even the Autobots were unable to see out of. The few trees in the area were similar to the rock features too, as they were tall and thin, mirroring the poses of the hoodoos. While Alex's gaze upwards was captivated by the rock formations all around them, the Autobots too had their eyes directed at the sky, however they were fair from admiring the local scenery.

Eventually Kickdown and Torque at the front of the convoy slowed their pace before coming to a halt and glanced behind them at the others.

"It's just over this rise in the ground," Kickdown indicated a fairly steep rocky hill in front of them with a flick of his hand, which Alex vaguely noticed only had four fingers, "I'm warning you now in case there's a welcoming party."

Torque gave a quiet grunt, "There'll be something, I'm sure. Freeway, you'd better take you human and move behind us."

The young Autobot nodded and made his way back to where Pulse and Alex were standing, Bill still secure on his shoulder.

"Ready?" Kickdown glanced at them.

"We're always ready," Drag responded, the lethal blades hidden above his hands slid out to their full extent and he brought them up into a defensive position to emphasise his point.

Kickdown nodded and set off up the hill as quickly as he dared, the others hurrying after him. Alex was forced to run a little faster now, and was trying to do his best not to pant too hard and look like he was about to pass out, especially since Pulse kept looking like he wanted to carry him. Maybe it was the sweat pouring off him that gave it away.

Up ahead Kickdown had reached the crest of the hill and Alex saw him visibly relax, there obvious being nothing waiting for them.

"Makes a change," Pulse muttered either to himself or Alex.

Alex just shrugged in case it was directed at him and sped up as much as he could to catch up with the other Autobots.

"Nothing here," Drag was saying to Torque as he approached, "No Decepticons and nothing special."

Torque was nodding, "No Decepticons are good, but we'll just have to scan the area to make sure. Hence where Pulse comes in."

"I'll begin to scan the area for anything that may be unusual, then check for anything that may be natural yet important to us," Pulse came up beside Drag.

"We'll help as much as we can, but otherwise camp out and keep a watch," Kickdown nodded.

Pulse nodded, "That would probably be the best idea, I need to focus and I'd rather not be attacked while doing so."

"Lets go then, while the coast is clear," Drag encouraged, setting off down the slope without waiting for anyone else. Torque rolled his eyes and hurried after him, leaving the rest of them to take their time.

Alex began to trudge down the rock beside Kickdown, vaguely disappointed that there hadn't been an amazing discovery awaiting them. Something like gold, silver, an alien spaceship. Anything. But there was just rock with a few trees and hoodoos. Nothing seemingly different to the rest of the huge canyon. But whatever was here the Decepticons obviously thought it important because Alex was sure they wouldn't be wasting their time at the bottom of an empty canyon.

While Kickdown and Freeway went over to a sheltered part of the clearing to sit down and talk, Drag and Torque split up and began to check the area, almost in a patrolling fashion. Alex hovered around, unsure where he should go as Pulse took up position in the middle of the area, his expression turning thoughtful as he began to slowly look around him.

Eventually Alex just decided to go over to one of the limber pines and slumped down against its trunk, wiping a hand across his rather sweaty face. He glanced across to Bill, but she seemed to be physically attached to Freeway. If only Alex had saved her life instead…

He sighed and closed his eyes, letting his mind wander all over the place as he listened to the sounds around him. He could hear birds, specifically a Stellar's Jay laughing its head off somewhere. The wind whistled eerily though the hoodoos creating an almost musical tune that vaguely reminded Alex of something that Jak had played once while driving along. He could also hear the Autobots moving around him, the sound of perfectly oiled joints and metal sliding over metal, as well as the crunch of rock as their weight caused light fissures in it.

He was vaguely aware of another sound after a while, which he at first put down to a change in the wind direction as it moved through the rock formations, however it appeared to slowly get louder, despite it still being faint. It also had a slight 'whumping' sound about it, as if there was something spinning at a high velocity through the hot air. It also sounded vaguely familiar, but not like Jak's music this time. It reminded him of home, where an air force base was just a little way down his road, where planes and helicopters often passed overhead. It especially sounded like a small helicopter, now that he thought about it. Maybe it was just a…


	21. Down And Out

He suddenly snapped out of his daze and opened his eyes, jumping to his feet, "Deadlock!" he gasped, just as what looked like a rather well armed Apache appeared over the peak of the hill they'd just made their way over imitating the perfect surprise attack that the helicopters were so famous for.

Drag and Torque responded instantly to the Decepticon's arrival, Drag hurtling up the hill towards him at an incredible speed while Toque whipped out a gun and wasted no time in opening fire.

Deadlock remained in his Apache form and returned fire, the six hundred and forty five rounds per minute Boeing chain gun showering the two small Autobots with bullets. Most of the rounds bounced off their reinforced bodies, however occasionally a few shots found their way into more sensitive parts of the Autobot's workings, causing them to stumble or dart out the way.

Meanwhile Kickdown and Freeway had leapt to their feet, just as a sleek looking, bright red, Decepticon sprinted out from seemingly nowhere and threw himself at Pulse who was trying to ignore the fighting in order to continue his scans. Freeway managed to grab the newcomer's leg while he was in midair and hauled him violently away, before smashing him into a nearby hoodoo.

Bill ran over to Alex and nearly crashed into him, allowing him to grab her around the waist and begin to haul her away, trying to get in between the hoodoos to use them as both protection and to hide behind.

However they were forcefully evicted from their shelter when a missile, most likely from Deadlock, caused one of the formations to their right to shatter, while the one to their left was demolished by Drag stumbling back into it before he promptly collapsed to the ground looking shaken.

"Run," Alex grabbed Bill again and began to drag her along after him as they wove in and out of trees and rocks, doing their best to leave the fighting behind them. But they didn't get very far when a form suddenly swung down from a low outcrop and landed in front of them.

"How nice to see you again! How's your silent flying friend? I wouldn't mind a chance to talk to him again," the distinctly pink Decepticon gave a slightly manic laugh as he blocked their way and smiled nastily.

Alex didn't bother to respond, not feeling particularly cocky with only Bill at his side, so instead began to try and force her back, which she was only too happy to do.

"Now now, don't you run away from me, I only want to play with you," Sidelight bent down slightly and thrust his face close to them, causing Bill to clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.

One of Sidelight's clawed hands grabbed hold of a hoodoo and broke it off easily, "How about an insect game where a pathetic human hits a tiny ball with a stick. Golf, is that the one? How about a game of golf?" he suddenly swung the long and pointed red rock at them.

This time Bill did actually scream, and Alex may have too, he wasn't sure, as he shoved Bill to the ground with him on top of her so that the rock barely missed, passing over them instead.

"Go," Alex gasped, trying to scramble along the ground as Sidelight came dangerously close to stepping on them both. Bill didn't need telling twice and she staggered to her feet, trying to get away. However Sidelight didn't waste anytime in throwing down the broken hoodoo, purposefully missing her in order to block her path.

"No running!" he screeched at them both, "You stay and die! Or in your case, stupid insect fleshling," Sidelight glared at Alex, "You come with me!"

Alex scrambled to his feet and ran over to one side away from Bill, directly exposing himself to Sidelight in order to distract him from her. It would be better that he was captured than Bill killed, after all.

Luckily Sidelight did think him more important than Bill and lunged after him, one of the deadly fins on his arms taking out a hoodoo that narrowly missed landing on Alex. As it was, he was forced to throw himself out the way where he hit the ground with a pained grunt and took in a mouthful of ground rock. Where the hell were the Autobots?

Sidelight loomed over him, and despite the gleaming red eyes, lethal weapons arsenal and the fact he was a twenty-one foot killer alien robot, Alex couldn't help but find him rather comical, his pink paintwork glinting in the sun was both psychotically disturbing and hilarious. He didn't know whether to laugh or shriek his head off.

As Sidelight bore down on him, once again Alex saw the rows of sharpened teeth, smelt the acrid smell of oil and felt the distinctive aura of death. He tried to scoot backwards, but he knew it was in vain. He couldn't see Reaper anywhere in the sky, so he supposed that he was busy helping either those in the canyon or those up on the rim if they'd come under attack, so he wouldn't be rescuing the damsel in distress that was Alex this time.

There was no one there to stop Sidelight reaching down and grasping Alex in a disproportionate claw, picking him up and holding him in front of him triumphantly, save Bill screaming at him to let him go, which didn't do anything at all. Alex did his best to try and squirm loose, however it was more painful doing so as he kept catching himself on the pointed fingers curled around his body.

"Disgusting and rather squishy," Sidelight regarded him with absolute disgust, giving him a little shake, which caused Alex to grunt loudly in pain, "So fragile too."

"Hey, Sidelight!" someone yelled nearby, Alex guessing by the voice that it was Kickdown despite being unable to see behind him, "You let him go, you mofo!" he snapped, confirming Alex was right that it was indeed Jak's friend. Not every Autobot appeared to speak like those two.

Sidelight turned around slowly, his hideous features contorting into something even nastier if that was even possible, "Ah Kickdown, how nice of you to join us. Shame I won't be around much longer. I have a precious little human to deliver to my leader," he brought Alex up to his face and smiled.

"You ain't going nowhere, and you know it," Kickdown lifted up and arm that was rapidly replaced with a rather large energy weapon of some kind.

"Come now, you're an Autobot! I have a tiny little insect in my hand. One slip and I could crush its pitiful body into dust. Could you live with yourself? Could you disobey the great Optimus Prime?" Sidelight's voice took on an almost sickly tone.

"I don't aim to put the human at risk," Kickdown gave a little shrug, not lowering his weapon however.

"Then what do you plan to do? Hold me at gun point forever?" Sidelight scoffed.

"Not exactly," Kickdown smirked.

Suddenly there was a sudden and violent impact to Sidelight's back, causing Alex to be thrown from his grip as the Decepticon gasped and staggered forward into an innocent tree that snapped in two as soon as he connected with it. Alex was then faced with approximately a fifteen-foot drop to the rather hard canyon floor, however, as always, just at the last minute Drag suddenly slid in under him from nowhere and grabbed hold of him before he could become nothing more than a mark on the ground.

*sobs* I really didn't want to kill him D8

But I had to kill off a cool one.

Oh look who's safe now," Kickdown grinned at Sidelight and was just about to fire his energy weapon when he suddenly grunted loudly in pain, his optical eyes flickering briefly, before they dimmed and went out. There was a moments pause before he buckled at the knees and fell forward. His lifeless form hit the ground and sent up a cloud of dust, which settled fairly quickly, revealing another Decepticon, identifiable by his red eyes, which were as red as his paintwork, standing behind him, a long metal spike taking the place of his hand.

"Apparently, you weren't the safe one," he sneered at Kickdown's body, which appeared to be leaking a range of fluids, including what looked like molten metal, out of a large puncture wound in his back, "Kick_down_ is finally _down_," he added smugly.

"Don't waste time gloating, Redline, you imbecile!" Sidelight screamed at him from where he was doubled over in pain, "Kill the interfering Autobot!"

"You're one to talk, Sidelight," Redline glowered at him, "Playing with them like you have all the time in the universe," he scowled but didn't disobey Sidelight and lunged for Drag who was just putting Alex on the ground carefully. He scrambled away and took cover behind one of the few hoodoos that was still remaining, hiding from Sidelight as he began to look around suspiciously for him.

Drag meanwhile had turned just in time to see Redline coming for him, and he quickly brought up one of his blades to deflect the blow the Decepticon had aimed at him.

"Too many mistakes today," Drag glared at him furiously, "First the humans, and now Kickdown? All Decepticons here will fall today," he swung a blade at Redline's head.

The Decepticon ducked it and skittered out of the way, taunting him, "We may fall to our knees, but you Autobots will fall to pieces!"

"We'll see," Drag continued to glare at him as he set about laying into him, using his blades in much the same fashion as a highly trained swordsman would. Redline fought back with the spike on the end of his arm, while loosing shots at Drag at random with the energy gun his other arm hand twisted into. Nimble and highly manoeuvrable on his wheeled feet, Drag was dodged most of the shots fired in his direction, moving with impressive athleticism. In all, he seemed to be like a perfectly tuned Olympic athlete, training in all forms of fighting, speed, endurance. And gymnastics, Alex added to his mental list as he watched from his hiding place as Drag rolled to one side before leaping up at Redline, flipping over him as he simultaneously rammed a blade down into one of the Decepticon's shoulders.

Redline gave a horrible screech and tried to grab hold of Drag, however the Autobot had already dashed away from him to safety.

"Getting slow, Redline," Drag withdrew his blades and folded his arms as the Decepticon staggered around blindly in pain, "Lucky for you, I missed your Spark. Shame."

He glared in Drag's vague direction though he didn't appear to be able to focus through the pain, "Shame indeed," he growled before turning away. He stumbled a few steps before falling forward, quickly folding and twisting into a red with white stripes Dodge Viper, which sped off through the canyon, seemingly unaffected by the rough terrain and narrow gorges.

Drag then turned his attention to Sidelight who, unable to move very successfully due to the damage he'd sustained from Drag's surprise blow, had given up looking for Alex and was beginning to try and edge away.

To Alex's slight irritation and confusion, the Autobot didn't bother to pursue him as Sidelight glared at him, backing away, muttering angrily under his breath in what was either Decepticon or Cybertronian, it sounding like the language Drag had used earlier to snap at Freeway.

"Until next time, Dragstar," Sidelight sneered at him.

Drag gave a low growl and grabbed a large chunk of rock from a crumbling wreck that had once been a magnificent rock formation, before lobbing it at the Decepticon with perfect accuracy. It hit Sidelight directly in the face, sending him reeling backwards as the rock shattered. One of the shards smashed into the delicate optics of the Decepticon's eye, causing him to yowl loudly in pain, "Don't call me that. You have no authority to, you piece of worthless scrap," Drag snapped.

Sidelight didn't even bother to respond, too taken up with his damaged back and destroyed eye, and this time he didn't bother to waste any time in turning away, making a break for it, although he did occasionally crash into a few trees on his way.


	22. A Show Of Good Will

Once he was out of earshot and it seemed safe, Alex edged out from his hiding place, spotting Bill doing the same thing of the other side of the small clearing that now resembled a battle zone, a few parts here and there, destroyed formations and Kickdown's lifeless body. Drag quickly checked the surrounding area to make sure that it was definitely safe before returned to where Bill and Alex were now standing close together, backs to Kickdown's form, glancing around anxiously each time they heard something that resembled a gun shot.

"It's all clear," Drag reported taking a rather formal and military-like tone, as he still cast wary looks around, "Redline and Sidelight have left the area. Deadlock also fled. They've all sustained substantial damage that will keep them out of action for a good length of time. Our assistance is required up on the rim, where Crossfire and the others were also engaged by three Decepticons in the form of Drophead, Crankshaft and Envoy. While Traction is keeping Envoy for himself, due to the others' large sizes, they're finding it difficult to keep up with the smaller Decepticons without accidentally revealing themselves to the human tourists. They're specifically having trouble with Crankshaft, who I, or Torque, will no doubt be able to deal with. We'll regroup with Torque, Freeway and Pulse, who has managed to conclude his scans and has something to report once the battle is over."

Alex nodded absently before hesitating a little and eventually asking, "What about Kickdown? Can Pulse do anything about it?"

Drag shook his sombrely, "While our bodies can be repaired from the brink of complete and utter destruction, our Sparks cannot. Once damaged, there is no way to save a Spark, and therefore no way to save his life. Redline's weapon pierced his armour on his back and went straight into his Spark cavity, no doubt breaking the Spark in half."

"What exactly is the Spark? Something metal too?" Alex ventured.

Drag glanced at Kickdown's body before going over to it and carefully rolled it over so that it was on its back. He then leant down and pulled at part of the deceased Autobot's chest until it came away revealing a deep hole in the forms chest. Alex and Bill shuffled closer to get a good look, peering into the hollow as Drag reached in and with great respect removed two small pieces of broken metal," I'm sure Kickdown wouldn't mind me showing you his Spark, since he is dead after all. Inside the Spark chamber, you can see scortch marks, there's also a often a deposit of carbon left behind."

"Carbon? Like carbon based life forms? Like us?" Alex frowned, "That would mean you're closer related to us than we'd ever have thought."

"Perhaps," Drag shrugged, "We're not entirely sure where the carbon comes from, to be honest," he held the two pieces of metal he'd picked up in an outstretched palm to show them both, "This is all that's left when a Spark goes out. It's been broken in half by Redline, however, so it would normally be a simple sliver of an unknown metal that we can't identify nor recreate. It came from what we know as the AllSpark, from which we gain our life. This metal and Energon are what we think it's made up of," he carefully placed the broken Spark back into Kickdown's chest cavity before replacing the cover respectfully. He then reached to his own chest and pulled back, with more ease, two overlapping parts to reveal a glowing orb-like shape in the space in his own chest, "I can't believe I'm showing a couple of humans this…" he muttered before shrugging, "This is a living Spark, obviously. The Energon is what makes it emit light. I'm not one to explain the ins and outs; Pulse would be more appropriate to talk to about that if you're interested," Drag let go of the chest cover and it slid back into place over his Spark, protecting it from the world.

"Cool," Alex blinked a few times before adding to clarify, "In the colloquial sense, not literal one."

"I guessed this time," Drag gave a little dry smile as he straightened up, "You walk ahead of me while I carry Kickdown back, I'll tell you where to go if you're unsure."

Alex nodded, glancing at Bill who was kept casting the odd glance around her, especially when the wind blew rustling the pine trees around them. He hesitated briefly before reaching out and taking her hand, squeezing it lightly in reassurance. She started slightly at the contact but didn't pull away, letting her hand rest neatly in his. He gave a lopsided smile and began to lead her back the way he thought they'd come, glancing over his shoulder as Drag hauled Kickdown's body off the ground and slung him over his shoulder, metal scraping loudly across metal. Drag set his face and began to walk after them, looking like he didn't want to accept he was carrying a once brave dead comrade like a piece of junk.

Alex didn't know how Autobot s responded to loosing one of their own, but while Drag didn't appear to be outwardly devastated, he was most likely mourning the loss of Kickdown. Alex dreaded to think how Jak would respond to his friend's death. Even if Autobots took death in their stride and dealt with it quietly, he knew Jak, being the most vocal and humanised of them all, would most likely create a little.

He sighed quietly as they trudged through the canyon, it seeming much further now that he wasn't running. Bill's hand in his was beginning to feel rather sticky and sweaty due to the heat, however neither of them appeared ready to let go, their hands remaining entwined together as they walked.

Eventually they reached the area where they'd first been ambushed, Pulse sitting on the ground looking thoughtful, while Torque and Freeway were talking to each other quietly. They all looked up at Alex, Bill and Drag's return, Pulse jumping to his feet as he caught sight of Kickdown slung over his shoulder.

"Is he…?" he frowned.

Drag nodded, "Redline did it."

"Oh damn," Torque moved over to him, Freeway following him, "Kickdown was a great fighter. What happened?"

"Straight through the back," Drag shrugged, shaking his head.

"Coward," Freeway muttered angrily.

"Very much so," Pulse agreed, his eyes running over Kickdown's body, as if looking for some way to save him, despite knowing there was nothing he could do, "We'll carry him up to the others. You can all then decide what to do with your comrade," he glanced at Torque who gave a short nod.

"We should be on our way," Freeway glanced up at the cliff they had to climb back up, "Should be easier going up."

"Easier for some," Drag grunted.

"You take the humans, I'll take Kickdown's body," Pulse offered, "So long as you don't let go of them by 'accident'," he rather successfully dropped quote marks in the air with two fingers on each hand. Alex gave him a thumbs up and grinned.

"I won't drop them," Drag shrugged, "As a show of goodwill, I showed the humans my Spark."

"What you have of one," Torque gave a quiet snigger. Drag glowered at him briefly before looking back at Pulse smugly.

Pulse looked a little surprised but quickly did his best to cover it up, "Very well," he strode over to the little Autobot and lifted Kickdown from. Drag rolled his shoulders as the weight was lifted from him and went over to Alex and Bill, eyeing them up, "You are rather big."

"You're just small Drag," Freeway smirked, obviously in a rather cocking mood.

"You watch what you say," Drag glanced at him, "As least I'm not a giant who goes and crashes into everything. I have _style_."

"Only a little. Everything you have is little," Torque grinned at Freeway.

"Oh yes?" Drag raised an arm and the blade shot out of it, the sound of metal cutting the air echoing around them, "This isn't little," he turned it in the light so that it cast patterns over the rocks.

"Makes up for other things," Freeway smiled back at Torque.

"Ok, you three," Pulse intervened, "I'm sure you can discuss this later. Right now we have other things to worry about."

"Yes Pulse, agreed," Drag nodded firmly, crouching down in front of Alex and Bill who were still joined together at the hands, "Onto my back, humans."

They pulled away reluctantly and almost in union began to climb onto his back, feeling a little awkward as they did so, since Drag wasn't really big enough to accommodate the both of them. Of course, he was strong enough, but the two of them had trouble getting comfortable. Bill sorely hoped she wouldn't fall again this time as she clung onto whatever parts of Drag she could as he straightened up.

"Drag, you go up first, as soon as you're at the top, take the humans and go to Crossfire," Pulse instructed.

"Understood," he nodded, breaking into a run instantly that jarred both Alex and Bill around painfully on his back. He ran over the hill where Deadlock had appeared behind and down into a slight dip before beginning to climb up an increasingly steep gradient, back the way they'd come. Eventually they reached the cliff they had to climb and Drag didn't waste anytime in jumping up a little way, digging his fingers into the rock. For extra purchase, he also let his blades slide out a little way, allowing them to dig into the rock too since his wheeled feet weren't exactly the best for climbing up sheer rock. Alex and Bill glanced at each other anxiously as Drag began to climb up the side of the canyon at a surprising speed, both of them still clinging on for dear life. Alex hoped the Autobot couldn't feel how tightly he was gripping onto him, but he doubted that was likely, despite the fact his hands were clamped down on seemingly obsolete pieces of metal.

It didn't take Drag too long to pull himself over the rim and onto solid ground again, where he bent down, allowing Alex and Bill to slide off him. He then straightened up and looked around, his blue optics scanning the area, every tree or rock being scrutinised suspiciously. Once he was certain that a tree wasn't going to leap at him, he glanced down, "You two get in me. If anything happens, be ready to leap out at any moment," he didn't wait for a respond and quickly dropped to the ground as he began to fold and buckle in on himself until the Aston Martin DBS guise was in place. He revved his engine, indicating that they should get in.

Alex glanced at Bill, their hands touching briefly again before he went for the driver's side, Bill to the passengers, both of them sliding into Drag quickly. He slammed the doors behind them, and with a little wheel spin that kicked up a few rocks he sped off, heading over the rough ground towards the road they'd come in on.

Torque appeared to have slightly better suspension than Drag Alex concluded as they were thrown around the cabin, every little pothole causing them to grip onto something to avoid losing their head. Alex was especially wary of the sloping windscreen that he'd hit his head on when he'd first got into Drag, which had found him in hospital.

After a while of being tossed like a salad, they finally hit the road, bumping up onto its smooth surface. Both Alex and Bill allowed themselves to relax slightly with a little sigh as Drag rolled along the blissful surface.


	23. Bothersome Brothers

Maaaan, so long since I updated this. I mean, I have almost half a million (I love saying that xD) words of this story, but never get around to uploading individual chapters. Clearly chopping up the documents is too much effort for me. And editting. One day I will edit it (rather than get distracted with an OC-based AssCreed story instead xD)

R&R peoplez and keep letting me know who your favourite TFs are :D ~

* * *

They passed a few cars on their way, Alex eyeing them up suspiciously as they zoomed past, knowing that now he'd never be able to look at another vehicle the same way. They must have been relatively close to the car park at Paria View when Drag suddenly slowed something, spotting something in front of him.

After a moment's pause, the engine seemingly have cut off, he quickly spoke up, "Hold on and trust me."

"Trust you? Drag, what do you -?" Alex cut himself off as the Aston Martin revved its engine and floored it, accelerating with astonishing speed (naught to sixty in four point three seconds, Alex thought to himself absently), and both he and Bill were thrown back into their seats. They quickly spotted another car coming towards them, specifically a Rolls Royce Phantom in a rather hideous blue colour. Had Drag not swerved onto the other side of the road to head straight at it, Alex would have been suspicious of it regardless since it was nothing like all the other tourist cars that were around the area. Bill had grabbed onto the door as if that might help her as they belted towards the oncoming Rolls that was making no move to get out of the way. Alex wanted to close his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. He barely had enough to time to blink as it was anyway, when the two cars slammed into each other, nose to nose with a sickening crunch, both engines roaring furiously.

Normally both cars would have crumpled up to take the impact, most likely writing them off instantly. Their engines would probably have been completely crushed due to the sped at which the collision occurred, their tires blown, front axel twisted and generally everything would be a complete mess. However, despite the whiplash-inducing crash, there weren't any marks on the two cars. As Alex recovered from the forceful impact, his neck really beginning to feel the strain from all these rapid stops and crashes, his eyes widening as he saw that both cars were still nose to nose, trying to push against each other, their engines still revving loudly, wheels spinning with effort. Alex glanced at Bill who looked a little pale, but otherwise uninjured, yet was still clinging to the car door.

Drag didn't seem to be giving up on forcing the Decepticon back, and while his Aston form had the most horsepower, he wasn't utilising it totally, seemingly just wanting to keep the Rolls from escaping instead.

Alex supposed that he had requested assistance from anyone in the nearby vicinity, because it wasn't long until he spotted Flywheel hurtling towards them in his Chevy Tahoe guise. He didn't slow at all as he reached them, and instead simply rammed the Decepticon in the backside, sandwiching him between the two Autobots. The impact once again jarred both Alex and Bill inside Drag, causing Alex to curse loudly under his breath about his neck and how it might snap in two at any moment.

While both Autobots held the Decepticon in place, none of them relenting their violent engine revving, a few tourists had the misfortune of passing them. Alex could see the confusion all too clear on their faces as they drove past, and he almost felt like he should get out and chivvy them along, claiming their was nothing to see and they should get on their way.

He was beginning to also wonder if they'd stay locked like this forever when he saw movement to his left. After quickly glancing up and down the road to check nothing was coming, Gasket strode out and made his way across the road casually. He looked down at the Decepticon who was now struggling to revert to his humanoid form in defence, but was unable to do so successfully with Flywheel and Drag pinning him into a small space.

Gasket shook his head and put a large foot down on the Roll's soft-top, crushing it down, "When will you Decepticons learn?" he gave a dramatic sigh, "This can't go on forever. Care to divulge in any information before I take you apart, Drophead? Perhaps, you could expand on the information Crankshaft has already let slip? About this facility in a city to the north of here?"

Drophead gave a furious growl, sounding far from a sound that one would expect a refined Rolls Royce to make, "You stupid Autobots," he continued to try and struggle into his natural form, occasionally an arm or leg lashing out here or there, "By all means, go to the facility, but all you will achieve is your downfall! We will rid you from this insect infested planet and turn its inhabitants into our slaves!"

"That's what you Decepticons always say," Flywheels deep rumbling voice almost blended in with his powerful engine, "But you're too weak, unable to get on and do it."

"Not for much longer," Drophead gave a nasty laugh as his hood attempted to pop open, but it jammed part the way up, "We'll soon have enough Energon to control this planet and repair our own."

Gasket frowned slightly, "There are no sources of Energon, nor any substantial human forms of energy which you could convert into Energon. You must be mistaken."

"He is a Decepticon, they're all insane," Drag grunted.

Drophead gave another growl, "You Autobots are the ones who are mistaken! You're blind to what lies right in front of you. But because you protect the stupid humans, you miss out on the opportunity for Energon."

"Humans come before Energon," Gasket shook his head, "We'd never put them at risk."

"That's what makes you so stupid," Drophead snarled, "We've found the perfect answer to our questions. Not only will Fusion make us all immortal, but it will supply us with plentiful Energon for taking over as many worlds as we wish."

"Going to expand on that for us?" Flywheel asked sharply.

"What do you think?" Drophead gave a rough laugh, "Idiotic Autobot."

"Well it's very obvious that whatever is going on share links with Fusion, the discovery here and this facility you talk of," Drag explained, taking on a knowing tone, "We don't need you to expand on anything for us when we're most likely more intelligent than you and can put two and two together without the use of an electrical numerical counting device."

"A calculator," Alex offered quietly as he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," Drag grunted in response.

Drophead began to struggle wildly again, "You'll never understand it," he snapped.

"We can try," Gasket looked like he was beginning to get bored with the Rolls as he engaged a small energy weapon mounted on his right arm, aiming it at the Decepticon in general.

"Try is all you'll be doing!" Drophead laughed once again, however was cut off by Gasket firing his weapon a couple of times into his hood, the blasts burning their way straight through his internal workings.

Flywheel made a sound of disgust, "Some of these Decepticons talk so much, they must like the sound of their own voice."

"Agreed," Drag commented as he rolled backwards away from the smouldering and melted Rolls Royce, "Pulse and the others are a little why behind, they'll deal with Drophead's remains."

Gasket nodded, "We should return to Crossfire and Traction. Crankshaft made a break for it when a poor human appeared in the same Porsche 911 that he takes as his vehicle form and confused us. Meaning we went for the human instead of him. Luckily the human was ok, however, just a little shaken, but unharmed. Traction is still fighting Envoy, however. I don't understand why he insists on drawing the fight out, when I'm sure he has the weapons and experience to dispatch the Decepticon easily. They spend more time conversing and swapping jibes than actually engaging each other physically."

"Brothers," Flywheel grunted, "I knew it from the moment I saw them both together in their natural forms. They have the same body style and fight similarly."

"What?" Drag exclaimed rather loudly, sounding a little out of character.

"They're brothers," Flywheel repeated shortly, "Envoy and Traction."

"Why the hell did he not tell us that?" Drag asked incredulously, "Natural or forced?"

"Natural, obviously. I'm sure if you ask him he might enlighten you as to why they're on opposing sides," Flywheel responded.

"You guys can have brothers?" Alex opened Drag's door and leaned out to look at the other two Autobots.

"Good grief, Drag, you had humans in you while you were engaging Drophead?" Gasket stared at him.

Flywheel didn't look quite as bothered by this realisation (not that he ever looked particularly anything as it was) and answered Alex's question, "Of course. In a natural sense, it occurs when a Spark is introduced to a protoform in order to give it life, however it splits and needs two forms. Unnaturally it can lead to clones that tend to be unstable and rather unusual. Therefore Envoy and Traction share two halves of the same Spark, meaning they are brothers."

Drag too decided to ignore Gasket staring at him, "It's unusual that they end up on opposing sides, however. I shall ask him more, but later, after this is over."

"Interesting," Alex commented, "Good brother, evil brother. Reminds me of my own brother and I."

"Yeah, you're the evil one, while he's the good one," Drag muttered. Alex just smiled and patted Drag on the dash in response.

"Let us be on our way," Flywheel rolled back from Drophead's deceased form and turned around, beginning to head back the way he'd come.

Alex shifted himself back into Drag, the door shutting behind him. The Aston then set off after Flywheel, Gasket folding down into his tow truck guise to follow them, leaving the destroyed Rolls Royce to smoulder in the road.

Alex glanced across to Bill who looked his way, "I do love how these guys pick fancy cars as their vehicle forms. Makes it worse when they destroy them."

"Well I suppose they just have expensive taste?" Bill shrugged.

"Seems that way," Alex agreed, "What do we know so far? Lamborghini, Aston, Porsche, Dodge Viper and a Rolls. Funnily enough all but one are the Decepticons," he leant forward on the steering wheel, "Hey Drag, I think you've picked the wrong allegiance. Pretty cars are the evil ones, so it's more interesting when they're destroyed."

"Or perhaps it's just because I have and understanding for style," Drag replied curtly.

"True, Astons are drop dead gorgeous," Alex agreed.

"I hope that's not you coming onto him, Alex?" Bill smirked and raised her eyebrows at him.

He looked at her innocently, "But how can you resist this lovely interior," he stroked a finger along the dash, "This car has curves," he ran his hands over the steering wheel.

"I'm not Jak," Drag warned, "Please keep your strange human fantasies to yourself."

"But Drag, you're so hot and so cool," Alex insisted.

"That's not physically possible," Drag countered.

"Hawt," Alex gave a little growl.

"You're as bad as Jak. Now I know why you were partnered with him. I'm rather glad that when I was partnered to your oblivious brother, he wasn't as bad as you. At least I didn't wind up with you," Drag grumbled.

Alex was about to continue rubbing Drag up the wrong way when his cell phone suddenly started ringing in his pocket, the tone blasting out 'I'm Too Sexy' to his embarrassment. He blushed slightly then frowned and pulled it out, surprised that even after Pulse fixing it, it was still alive with all the running and falling he'd been doing lately. He eyed up the caller ID with distaste, tempted to let Bill answer it instead, but decided to just do it himself. He hit the answer button and held it up to his ear, "Yes, father?"

"Where the hell are you?" Alex's father's voice was extremely loud, even though the volume was set fairly low.

"I'm out and about," Alex shrugged lazily, wondering why it took two days for his father to bother calling him. Shows how concerned he must have been.

"Where are you? What have you done to your brothers car?" his father demanded.

"I told you I'm out. But I do happen to currently be in Jack's car," Alex decided to just tell the truth since it seemed more farfetched than any lie he could come up with as it was.

"Why did you steal his car?" his father sounded positively furious.

"I wanted to take it for a ride. Though it took me for one instead."

"Get back here this instant, Alexander! You are in some serious trouble!"

"Father, I'm currently in southern Utah, I won't be back anytime soon."

"What in Gods name are you doing out there?"

"Sightseeing."

"In your brother stolen car? Why would -? Hang on, your brother wants to talk to you," Alex could hear the phone being handed to someone else. The next thing he knew his brother was yelling down the phone at him in his irritating accent, which was the result of him trying to sound sophisticated and British while having a Texan drawl. Alex had to hold the phone away from his ear to avoid permanent auditory damage.

"What have you done with my car, you cretin?" Jack was yelling, "I have already called the police on you! I will call the army too if need be! That is my car, which I told you never to lay a finger on!"

"You called the police?" Alex frowned, "Overkill anyone? I'm just your brother, taking your car for a jaunt."

"You are a thief! Don't think I didn't notice you taking my money too!" Jack snapped.

"I was borrowing it. You have enough as it is," Alex shrugged, glancing in Bill's direction, only to receive a rather disapproving glare.

"That is no excuse, you idiotic delinquent! I am going to kill you when you get home!" Jack continued to rant.

"If I come home," Alex added.

"You had better come home! You are a carjacking imbecile!"

"I don't think you could get anymore insults in what you're saying, even if you tried," Alex sighed boredly, "You want to talk to your car to prove it's in one piece?"

"Car's don't talk, idiot!" Jack retorted angrily.

"This one does," Alex leant down slightly and put the phone down to Drag's nearest speaker in his door.

Drag gave a dramatic sigh, deciding to just go along with Alex's game, "This is your 'car'. I'm perfectly fine. No scratches, no dents, perfect as usual."

Alex vaguely heard Jack yell some kind of response involving the word 'accomplice' before Drag replied, "Not at all. I have many ways to prove that I'm your car. Including one event back in September when you and that rather bland woman decided it would be fun to procreate in me."

Alex snorted loudly, shoving a hand over his mouth to stop him from bursting out into rather excessive laughter. There appeared to be an embarrassed pause from Jack's end before he exploded again, demanding to know who had known that.

Drag just simply replied with, "I'm your car. I know things."

"Let me talk to him," Bill sighed eventually, holding out her hand expectantly, "He's more likely to listen to me."

"Sure thing," Alex straightened up and tossed her the phone.

"Jack?" Bill tried cautiously in case he yelled at her.

"Bill?" Alex's brother sounded genuinely confused, "What are you doing there with him?"

"He's just taking me for a ride. I didn't think he'd taken your car without asking, he told me you'd let him," Bill replied smoothly.

"Well I didn't. Get him to return home this minute," Jack demanded.

"I'm sorry Jack, Alex is taking me to an audition in Canada, we're going to be away for an unknown length of time. I'm sorry he didn't tell you, and that he took your car. If I'd known I'd never have let him take me. But if I have to return back to Texas I'll miss a possible big break," Bill gave a loud sigh, "Please don't let me miss out on this Jack. I'd be ever so grateful if you let Alex had your car for a little while longer. It would help me out greatly," she added, letting a sweet tone enter her voice, causing Alex to pull a disgusted face.

Jack hesitated slightly, "I don't know… He's not insured to drive my car."

"Jack, please," Bill tried again, "You'd be doing me a favour. I'll make sure Alex doesn't damage your car. He's driving very carefully."

Jack continued to hesitate, "I… Well… Fine. But I'll check in every now and then. I can't have you keeping my car for too long."

"Don't worry we won't," Bill replied cheerfully, "Thank you so much, it means everything to me. I'm glad Alex has such an understanding and kind brother."

"Oh, well, that's ok then," Jack sounded rather proud.

"See you Jack," Bill didn't waste anytime in hanging up on him in case he changed his mind. She passed the phone back to Alex who was staring at her, "I didn't over do the compliments did I?" she frowned.

"One compliment is too many when it comes to a Sheppard. They go straight to our heads," Alex muttered, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

"Well at least it got the desired result," Bill shrugged.

"It's sickening listening you talk to him like that," Alex grunted, "Even if you were just doing what you do best."

"Acting?" Bill smiled proudly.

"No. Being a hussy."

Bill's smile disappeared and she shoved him roughly, "Shut up. I just have a way with men."

"Yeah, sure," Alex smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, "I even manage to attract _alien non-organic _males."

"That's not something to proud of," Alex countered lazily, "Especially since your admirer is Jak."

"Better than nothing I suppose," Bill shrugged.

"He's a Ford Mustang GT Premium, candy apple red with custom – in the sense that not even Ford offer it – dark grey, almost black, stripes. He's got a red leather interior, a fairly nice dash that isn't too tacky. He's kitted out with a rather expensive sound system, huge speakers in the trunk included. He has a V8 engine, with a top speed of one hundred and eighteen and does naught to sixty in four-point-nine seconds. He likes to talk, take long drives on a beach and is looking for friendship, maybe more," Alex sat back in the seat casually.

"Fine Alex, point made. But at least he has a personality," she added.

"Don't we all?" Alex replied, sounding rather blasé.

Bill just sighed and shook her head, turning her attention to the scenery flashing past them, "Note, that you owe me now for lying to your brother."

"Sure thing," Alex shrugged, "I'll give you whatever you want once this stuff is over and done with."

"Which should be fairly soon," Drag commented, having remained silent during their exchange, "We're almost at the turning for Paria View. Be prepared in case Envoy and Traction are still fighting."

"If they're anything like my brother and I, we'd be fighting forever and always," Alex rolled his eyes.

"I doubt you'd kill your brother though, would you?" Drag asked.

"You have a point. As much as I'd love to… I can't. I'd be sent to jail. You guys get off scot-free because you're fighting a war," Alex shrugged.

"Start a war, then kill him," Drag suggested.

"Drag!" Bill snapped, "Don't suggest that. I thought you were for our human survival. You'll put ideas in Alex's tiny and influential mind."

"Gee thanks Bill," Alex rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm for humans making their own way through life, without us, nor the Decepticons interfering," Drag corrected her, "I fight the Decepticons because I believe they're wrong in their ideas and methods of domination. I neither dislike humans as the Decepticons do, since I respect your intelligence and ability, but nor do I like them like Jak does. You're an equal, yet growing, species, so I feel it my responsibility to protect you from a threat that we have brought down upon you. Therefore that's why I fight as an Autobot and am proud to fight for Earth and its inhabitants. It's not a matter of likes and dislikes in regard to humans."

"As insulting as that could be," Alex mused, "I do get your point."

"I'm glad I made it clear," Drag thanked him.


End file.
